Riassunto analitico
In recent years, sustainability is a concept that has increasingly gained momentum in the agenda of policy makers and institutions, which are implementing strategies to move towards more sustainable production and consumption patterns. In this vein, a key challenge is represented by food waste, a global concern that takes place at every stage of the food supply chain involving economic, social and environmental consequences. However, the lack of understanding and the ineffective measures implemented by international institutions so far have hampered the achievement of satisfactory results. In view of this, a concrete opportunity to tackle food waste would be to encourage people to purchase and consume imperfect food, which is wasted along the whole food supply chain. Thus, the aim of this study is to investigate how consumers perceive imperfect food and the possible interventions to foster its acceptance. The research presented in this study was conducted through an online questionnaire, administered to 168 Italian respondents, and seeks to investigate the attitude of consumers towards imperfect fruit and vegetables. The theoretical framework used in the study relies on the concept of regulatory focus, an important variable underlying human behavior, which defines how people approach desired end-states. The results of this study may help organizations and policy makers to implement effective interventions to limit the spoilage of imperfect food.
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