Consumer perceptions of food edibility and assessment of edibility

Certain foods or parts of foods (e.g. broccoli stalks) may end up being discarded because people simply do not regard them as edible. Similarly, when faced with a situation where they are unsure if a food product is still edible, some people may choose to discard the product immediately while others may choose to look at the product and try to assess if they can still eat it.

Consumer perceptions of food edibility

Consumers’ perceptions regarding the edibility of the foods/parts of foods included in the study varied to a large extent (see Figure 19). The green part of the leek, the broccoli stalks and the apple peels were most frequently considered as something that is always edible by the respondents. On the other hand, the softened salad, potato peels, carrot peels and fish skin were most frequently seen as never edible. The high percentage of people who consider carrot or potato peels as never edible may be due in part to possible misunderstanding of the question.

It may be that some of the people considered that the question only refers to eating the peels separately and not for example potatoes that are not peeled. Finally, the dry bread, browned bananas and visible fat in meat were seen most frequently as edible only if they were used in a specific recipe.

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Figure 19. Consumer perceptions of edibility for certain foods/parts of foods

Differences were found as well in people’s perceptions of edibility in relation to leftover food or cooked food.

Leftover food from which one has eaten twice in the same week was most frequently seen as always edible, while food that starts to look unappealing even if it still can be eaten is least frequently seen as always edible (see Figure 20).

No. Respondents = 508

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Figure 20. Consumer perceptions of edibility for cooked food and leftovers

Consumer strategies for assessing the edibility of food

When people are unsure whether a product (ham or strawberries) is still safe to eat, the most frequent strategy is to assess the eating quality and eat the product if they think that the quality is good enough (see Figure 21). The second most frequent strategy is to throw the product out.

No. Respondents = 508

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Figure 21. Strategies used by consumers when in doubt about a food product’s safety

Sometimes it happens that people find products in their fridge that have passed their expiration date. We asked people what they would do if they find an unopened product in their fridge that had passed its “best before” date by 3-4 days. Most frequently, in the case of cheese, yoghurt and eggs, respondents would look at the product and smell it to check if it is fit for consumption (see Figure 22). For cookies, most respondents would taste them to check if they are fit for consumption, if they smell normal and look fine.

No. Respondents = 508

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Figure 22. Strategies to assess edibility when a product has passed the “best before” date

The same question as before was asked for an unopened product that has passed its “use by” date with 3-4 days.

Most participants reported that they would look at the product and smell it to check if it is fit for consumption (see Figure 23). Moreover, a tenth of respondents said that they would taste the minced meat to check if it is fit for consumption, if it smells normal and looks fine.

Figure 23. Strategies to assess edibility when a product has passed the “use by” date

Strategies to assess edibility of products passed the “best before” versus the “use by” dates

In order to find out whether people make a difference between the “best before” and “use by” date labelling when deciding how to deal with an expired product, we used a between-subjects design (see the Methods section). In

No. Respondents = 508

No. Respondents = 508

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general, we find that there are no significant differences between how people deal with products that have passed the “best before” date or the “use by” date. There was a small statistically significant difference only for ready-made meals (see Table 8). Of those respondents who saw the ready-made meal with “best before” date, a higher proportion said that they would taste the food product to check if it is fit for consumption if it smells normal and looks fine, compared to those who saw the “use by” date.

Table 8. Strategies to deal with ready-made meals passed the “best before” versus the “use by” date

Date labelling Total

"best

I taste the food product to check if it is fit for consumption, if it smells normal and looks fine

Count 58a 34b 92

Pearson Chi-Square=9.8, df=3, significant at p<.05, different subscript letters show that the column proportions are significantly different

Section summary - Consumer perceptions of food edibility and assessment of edibility

Consumers vary in their perceptions of edibility in relation to certain foods or parts of foods, such as the upper part of leeks, fish skin or food that starts to look unappealing.

Participants reported using a variety of strategies when they deal with products that have passed their expiration date or when they have doubts about food safety. For products passed their expiration date, many participants try to judge edibility by looking at the product and smelling it.