Malleability of food values amid the COVID-19 pandemic

• Published in: European review of agricultural economics Vol. 49; no. 2; pp. 472 - 498
• Main Authors: Cerroni, Simone, Nayga, Jr, Rodolfo M, Pappalardo, Gioacchino, Yang, Wei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: UK Oxford University Press 23-02-2022; Oxford Publishing Limited (England)
• Subjects: Consumers; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Food; Food consumption; Food safety; Nutrition; Pandemics; Sociodemographics; Values; COVID-19; stay-at-home orders; best–worst scaling; food values; pandemic
• ISSN: 0165-1587; 1464-3618
• DOI: 10.1093/erae/jbab025

Abstract
Food values are supposed to be stable. This paper tests this assumption by comparing food values before and during the coronavirus-19 pandemic. While the ranking of food values remains very similar, there are some interesting differences in the relative importance that consumers attached to food values before and during the pandemic. A substantial decrease in the importance that consumers attach to food safety was observed during the pandemic, while there was a moderate increase in the importance attached to taste, nutrition, appearance, convenience and origin. The changes in food values vary across sociodemographic groups. Implications of the results are discussed.