Food waste in Australia and consumers' willingness to buy novel, value-added foods

This research explores consumers' willingness to buy novel, value-added food. Respondent-completed questionnaires from 330 Australians reveal that half of the sample are willing to buy value-added food. The survey indicates that helping farmers is the top ranking factor driving demand for value-added foods. There are significant differences in attitudes towards food waste and price sensitivity between respondents who are willing to buy a value-added snack product and those who are not willing or neutral about purchase. Surprisingly, moral concerns are not significant in distinguishing consumers who are willing to buy value-added foods from those who are not; hence, the authors find only partial support for the norm-activation model (Schwartz, 1977; Schwartz & Howard, 1981). Nonetheless, the survey findings are promising with regard to consumer acceptance of new, plant-based products and early adopters of innovation in the horticultural sector should heed the study's findings