Relationships Between Health and Environmental Information on the Willingness to Pay for Functional Foods: The Case of a New Aloe Vera Based Product

Impact de l’information sur la santé et l'environnement sur la volonté de payer pour les aliments fonctionnels: le cas d'un nouveau produit avec de l’Aloe Vera

Elena Castellari (), Elena Claire Ricci, Stefanella Stranieri, Stéphan Marette (), Martina Sarnataro and Claudio Soregaroli
Additional contact information
Elena Claire Ricci: UNIVR - Università degli studi di Verona = University of Verona
Stefanella Stranieri: UNIMI - Università degli Studi di Milano = University of Milan
Martina Sarnataro: Unicatt - Università cattolica del Sacro Cuore = Catholic University of the Sacred Heart [Roma]
Claudio Soregaroli: Unicatt - Università cattolica del Sacro Cuore = Catholic University of the Sacred Heart [Roma]

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Abstract: There is an increasing interest in healthy and sustainable product characteristics. Consumers determine their dietary intake and frame production systems with their choices. However, little is known about the relationships between health and environmental information in influencing these choices, especially when considering functional foods. This study assessed the influence of health-related and environmental-friendliness-related product information on the willingness to pay (WTP) for functional foods. To this end, a WTP elicitation experiment was set up using a jam-like fruit compote enriched with Aloe vera gel. Participants were provided with different messages related to the health and environmental benefits of Aloe vera products, and were also asked to taste the product. Results indicated that providing new information significantly increased the WTP for the enriched compote. This increase was significant for both health and environmentally based benefits, with the health message leading to a higher WTP. Combining health and environmental messages produced an additive effect on WTP which was independent of the sequential order in which the two messages were given. Results contrasted the view that health messages are the main drivers of WTP, and open a broader range of communication in terms of marketing strategies and sustainable policy objectives.

Keywords: food choices; functional food; health information; choice experiment; sustainability; environmental information (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-dcm and nep-env
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-02627431v1
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Published in Nutrients, 2019, 11 (11), pp.2781. ⟨10.3390/nu11112781⟩

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02627431

DOI: 10.3390/nu11112781

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