title: Food loss reduction from an environmental, socio-economic and consumer perspective - The case of the Swiss potato market.
abstract: Potatoes are one of the commodities with the highest loss shares along the entire supply chain. In the present study, we analyzed six potential loss reduction scenarios concerning their environmental-socio-economic sustainability compared with the current situation by using the "SustainOS" methodology. For this purpose, life cycle assessments, full-cost calculations and an online consumer survey were conducted. Environmental improvements through loss reduction were rather small and did not cross limits of significance, but the socio-economic performance of the entire supply chain can be improved considerably. Pearson correlation coefficients and linear regression analyses were used to predict the influence of specific subjective items like the intention to avoid food loss, knowledge related to food loss and consumers' price sensitivity on the assigned preference. Results show that perceived risks, perceived inconvenience and the general acceptance of loss-reducing instruments influence consumers' preferences. Altogether, only three out of six tested scenarios seem realistic: selling unwashed potatoes in a lightproof box, selling unpacked potatoes, and improved quality sorting at farms. For two of the other scenarios, consumers significantly indicated their refusal even if losses decreased considerably, whereas the sixth scenario was unfavorable from a socio-economic perspective.
authors.affiliation: Agroscope, Institute for Sustainability Sciences, Research Group Socio-Economics, Tänikon 1, CH8356 Ettenhausen, Switzerland; ETH Zurich, Institute for Environmental Decisions, Research Group Consumer Behavior, Universitätsstrasse 16, CH8092 Zurich, Switzerland. Electronic address: christian.willersinn@agroscope.admin.ch.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Willersinn
authors.affiliation: Agroscope, Institute for Sustainability Sciences, Research Group Life Cycle Assessment, Reckenholzstrasse 191, CH8046 Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Patrik
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mouron
authors.affiliation: Agroscope, Institute for Sustainability Sciences, Research Group Socio-Economics, Tänikon 1, CH8356 Ettenhausen, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mack
authors.affiliation: ETH Zurich, Institute for Environmental Decisions, Research Group Consumer Behavior, Universitätsstrasse 16, CH8092 Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Siegrist
mesh_terms: D003258:Consumer Behavior; D018556:Crops, Agricultural; D004777:Environment; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D005502:Food; D005523:Food Supply; D006801:Humans; D012923:Social Class; D011198:Solanum tuberosum; D013557:Switzerland
keywords: Consumer preferences; Food waste; Potato supply chain; SustainOS; Sustainability assessment