Freshness of fruits and vegetables : consumer language and perception

• Purpose – The aim of this study is to identify descriptions involved in defining the concept offreshness from a consumer perspective.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 559 subjects recruited in supermarkets of differentcities and villages in Switzerland were asked to write down their understanding of freshness ingeneral, and for fruits and vegetables in particular. Direct elicitation by means of an open-endedquestionnaire was used.Findings – Respondents mentioned a large variety of descriptors in relationship with fresh fruits andvegetables. Results suggest that freshness describes a level of closeness to the original product, interms of distance, time and processing. Respondents having more contact with the place of fruit andvegetable production mentioned non-sensory attributes more frequently, whereas those having fewercontacts mentioned sensory attributes more frequently. It can be concluded that consumers have acollective concept of freshness but they use their different everyday experiences with fruits andvegetables to describe freshness.Research limitations/implications – Analysis of open-ended questionnaires is time-consumingand difficulties were encountered in the categorisation of phrases. Participants might have beeninfluenced by the environment in supermarkets.Practical implications – The perception of freshness is influenced by the information consumers haveon products. Therefore, the importance of providing sufficient information on the products is emphasized.Originality/value – The study is the first to extensively investigate the consumer understanding ofthe term “fresh” in relationship with fruits and vegetables. The use of an open-ended questionnaire isparticularly interesting as it allows greater freedom of expression by the participants compared withother forms of enquiry.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Språk och litteratur -- Studier av enskilda språk (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Languages and Literature -- Specific Languages (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

freshness

consumer language

consumer perception

Languages and linguistics

Språkvetenskap

German language

Tyska språket

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)