Progress 01/01/24 to 12/31/24
Outputs
Target Audience:Two retailers' food waste management surveys, including one targeting grocery store managers and another for households via Qualtrics, were designed and implemented in 2024. Respondents participating in the grocery store manager survey were required to be at least 18 years old, and the person must be an assistant store manager or a store manager for a food retailer, including warehouse stores, superstores, and grocery stores. A total of 312 respondents completed the survey. For the household survey, 1,018 eligible respondents at least 18 years of age and their household's primary food shopper completed the survey. We followed appropriate human subjects protocols and obtained institutional review board approvals (UTK IRB-20-06141-XM). Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?An MS studentwasfunded by this project in 2024 and working with the household store choicesurvey and the retailer food waste management evaluation surveys. The student presented her findings at a national confernece and was expected to graduate in spring 2025. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results of the store choice surveywerepresented at a national conference in the summer of 2024. Referred articles were also published in two journals. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?It is the last year of the project, which ends in December 2024.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
One store choice study examines if retailing grocers' food waste reduction practices affect consumers' store choices for grocery shopping. The results indicate that food waste reduction initiatives positively influence consumer store choice, with higher waste reduction associated with a greater likelihood of store choice. Thus, reducing food waste can act as a competitive advantage for stores, and this becomes more effective when the amount is reduced. The study also shows that verifying food waste reduction claims influences store choice, but only government verification is more effective than self-reporting claims. For retailers, these findings suggest that investing in additional food waste reduction programs can help attract or retain customers, particularly if those efforts are framed as alleviating hunger through practices like donating to food banks. Stores implementing donation-based or food recovery programs should highlight these social benefits in marketing efforts to gain a competitive advantage. Our study also found similarities and variations in the perception of retailer food waste management between food store managers and households. We asked both groups about their effectiveness assessment among seven retailers' food waste reduction practices, including food donation, price discounts, food packaging improvement, bioenergy feedstock or animal feed, compost, standardized date labeling, upgrade technologies, and employee training. Both food store managers and consumers perceived food donation as the most effective practice, followed by price discounts, to reduce food waste at retailers. Food store managers indicated employee training as the top three effective means to reduce retailer food waste, whereas households ranked it as the least effective practice.
Publications
- Type:
Peer Reviewed Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Yenerall J. and R. Chen. Household Food Waste and Food Shopping Behavior. Journal of Food Products Marketing. 29(7): 232-254, 2023.
- Type:
Peer Reviewed Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
Ray, B., K.L. DeLong, K. Jensen, S. Burns, and C. Luckett. 2024. Consumer Preferences for Foods with Varying Best if Used-By Dates: An Experimental Auction and Sensory Evaluation Analysis. Food Policy, 125:102650.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
Hagan, A., J. Yenerall, K. DeLong, R. Chen, and T. Yu. Can Grocery Store Food Loss and Waste Reduction Programs Attract Shoppers? Presented at the Annual meeting of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) Conference. New Orleans, LA. (July 28 July 30, 2024).
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Progress 01/01/21 to 12/31/24
Outputs
Target Audience:Over the study period (January 2020 - December 2024), wehave surveyed more than 4,800 households and 312 food store managers to answer the research questionsin the study objectives, including a) the food loss and waste (FL&W) behaviors by consumers in the home and the effect of household attributes, shopping behavior and attitudes toward the FL&W issue and programs on these behaviors; b) consumer preferences for FL&W reducing programs through changes inshopping patterns, product choice, and willingness to pay (WTP); c) retailer awareness and perceptions of FL&W, current efforts to reduce FL&W, perceived benefits and barriers from a FL&W reduction program; d) the effects of information aboutconsumer FL&W reduction preferences on retailer willingness to a adopt (WTA) FL&W reduction program and practices; and(e) the changing FL&W behaviors of consumers and retailers under the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. Those household respondentshad to be at least 18 years of age and their household's primary food shopper, while the store managers must beat least 18 years old, and the person must be an assistant store manager or a store manager for a food retailer, including warehouse stores, superstores, and grocery stores. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?An MS student was funded by this project in 2024 and working with the household store choice survey and the retailer foodwaste management evaluation surveys. The student presented her findings at a national confernece and was expected tograduate in spring 2025. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The results of the surveys were presented at various national conferences in 2022, 2023, and 2024. Referred articles were also published in academic journals. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Our store choice study examines if retailing grocers' food waste reduction practices affect consumers' store choices forgrocery shopping. The results indicate that food waste reduction initiatives positively influence consumer store choice, withhigher waste reduction associated with a greater likelihood of store choice. Thus, reducing food waste can act as acompetitive advantage for stores, and this becomes more effective when the amount is reduced. The study also shows thatverifying food waste reduction claims influences store choice, but only government verification is more effective than selfreportingclaims. For retailers, these findings suggest that investing in additional food waste reduction programs can helpattract or retain customers, particularly if those efforts are framed as alleviating hunger through practices like donating to foodbanks. Stores implementing donation-based or food recovery programs should highlight these social benefits in marketingefforts to gain a competitive advantage. Our study also found similarities and variations in the perception of retailer food waste management between food storemanagers and households. We asked both groups about their effectiveness assessment among seven retailers' food wastereduction practices, including food donation, price discounts, food packaging improvement, bioenergy feedstock or animalfeed, compost, standardized date labeling, upgrade technologies, and employee training. Both food store managers andconsumers perceived food donation as the most effective practice, followed by price discounts, to reduce food waste atretailers. Food store managers indicated employee training as the top three effective means to reduce retailer food waste,whereas households ranked it as the least effective practice.
Publications
- Type:
Peer Reviewed Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
Ray, B., K.L. DeLong, K. Jensen, S. Burns, and C. Luckett. 2024. Consumer Preferences for Foods with Varying Best if Used-By Dates: An Experimental Auction and Sensory Evaluation Analysis. Food Policy, 125:102650.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2024
Citation:
Hagan, A., J. Yenerall, K. DeLong, R. Chen, and T. Yu. Can Grocery Store Food Loss and Waste Reduction Programs Attract Shoppers? Presented at the Annual meeting of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) Conference. New Orleans, LA. (July 28 July 30, 2024).
- Type:
Peer Reviewed Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Yenerall J. and R. Chen. Household Food Waste and Food Shopping Behavior. Journal of Food Products Marketing.
29(7): 232-254, 2023.
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Progress 01/01/23 to 12/31/23
Outputs
Target Audience:A household grocery shopping survey via Qualtrics was conducted in August 2023. To participate in the survey, respondents had to be at least 18 years of age and their household's primary food shopper. Quotas for age, race, income, and Census region (midwest, northeast, south, and west) were incorporated in the surveyincluding1,800respondents. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Two MS students were funded by this project in Spring 2023.One is working with the experimental auction data, and the other is working with the household food waste survey. Both completed their theses and graduated in Spring 2023. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The preliminary results of the surveys have been presented at the academic conference in the spring of2023. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We will continue to complete the store choice analysis based on the survey data collected in November 2023. We are also preparing twosurveys for retailers (one for Tennessee alone and another for nationwide) regarding their attitudes and plans toward reducing food waste. We will incorporate the consumers' store choice decision with the retailer survey to assess if retailing grocers react to consumers' store choices when evaluating food waste reduction practices.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
One study examines how consumers utilize food product sensory information and best-if-used-by dates (BUBDs) in forming theirwillingness to pay (WTP) for food products. Results indicate that sensory information outweighs BUBD information in developingWTP estimates for more perishable products (bagged salad) than less perishable products (lunch meat). Thus, BUBDsexplain the variation in WTP estimates according to expectations (i.e., further away dates are preferred). However, if consumers can quickly obtain sensory information (e.g., wilting salad), sensory information can better explain variation in WTP estimates. The manuscript is now under revision and resubmission for Food Policy. Another manuscript will determine if food insecurity has a different WTP for the bagged salad with varying days remaining before "the best if used by" dates. We completed data collection in November 2023to determine if retailing grocers' food waste reduction practices affect consumers' store choices for grocery shopping. We will evaluate the influence of a store's adoption of food loss and waste reduction practices on store choice. Preliminary results of a random parameters logit model suggest that households are more likely to choose stores that commit to more significant reductions in food loss and waste. Preliminary results also indicate that this result holds regardless of whether the food loss and waste reduction practices are verified by the grocery store itself, the government, or a third party.
Publications
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Submitted
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Ray, Billie. Spring 2023. An Analysis of How Consumers Use Best-if-Used-By Dates As a Cue for Evaluating Food Products. M.S. Thesis, University of Tennessee.
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Submitted
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Lun, L. Spring 2023. "Food Insecurity and the Value of Best if Used by Dates." M.S. Thesis, University of Tennessee.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Ray, B., K.L. DeLong, K.L. Jensen. An Experimental Sensory Approach to Analyzing how Consumers Utilize Best-if-Used-by Dates as a Cue for Wasting Food. Southern Agricultural Economics Association Annual Meeting. Oklahoma City, OK. February 5-7, 2023.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Lun L., J. Yenerall, K. DeLong. Food Insecurity and the Value of Best if Used by Dates. Presented at the 2023 Annual Meeting of the Southern Agricultural Economics Association. Oklahoma City, OK. February 5 7, 2023.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Under Review
Year Published:
2023
Citation:
Ray, B., K.L. DeLong, K. Jensen, S. Burns, C. Luckett. Consumer Preferences for Foods with Varying Best if Used-By Dates: An Experimental Auction and Sensory Evaluation Approach.
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Progress 01/01/22 to 12/31/22
Outputs
Target Audience:Two household food waste surveys via Qualtrics were completed in April and May 2022.To participate in the survey respondents had to be at least 18 years of age and their household's primary food shopper. Quotas for age, race, income and Census region (midwest, northeast, south, and west) were incorporated in the first survey, which included 2,000 respondents. The second survey was administered as a follow-up one week later to 400 respondents. Appropriate human subjects protocols were followed, and institutional review board approvals were obtained (UTK-IRB-20-06141-XM). Analysis of the survey data is currently in progress. Changes/Problems:Due to the pandemic and changes in the project team, we have requested a no-cost extension for the project so the end date of the project will be on December 31, 2024. However, no major changes in approaches to methodsused in the study are anticipated. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Two M.S. students are currently working on the project for their thesis. One isworking with the experimental auction data and the other is working with the household food waste survey. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The preliminary results of the surveys have been presented at the academic conference in summer of 2022. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?Twomanuscripts are under preparation based on the survey data that have been collected in 2021 and 2022. The first study examineshow consumers utilize food product sensory information and best-if-used-by dates (BUBDs) in forming their willingness to pay (WTP) for food products. Results indicate that sensory information outweighs BUBD information in forming WTP estimates for more perishable products (bagged salad) than less perishable products (lunch meat). Thus,BUBDs explain the variation in WTP estimates according to expectations (i.e., further away dates being more preferred). However, if sensory information is easily obtained by consumers (e.g., wilting salad), variation in WTP estimates can be better explained by sensory information. The second manuscript willdetermine if food insecure have a different WTP for the bagged salad with a varying number of days remaining before the best if used by dates. The retailer surveys about their FL&W practices will be developed in 2023for submission to IRB for approval and fielding in 2023.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
We completed data collectionin April and May 2022 to determine if food insecure have a different willingness to pay for a bagged salad with the varying numbers of days remaining before the best if used by dates. Respondent willingness to pay was assessed using contingent valuation with open-ended responses. Respondents were asked both how much they would be willing to pay for a bag of salad with a best-if-used-by date that was three, five, or seven days in the future but also their perception of its overall quality. Household food security status was assessed using the six-question short form of the USDA food security survey module.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Yenerall, J. Household Food Waste, Shopping Behavior and Time Use. Presented at the 2022 Annual meeting of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA) Conference. Anaheim, CA. July 31 August 2, 2022.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2022
Citation:
Ray, B., K.L. DeLong, K.L. Jensen, S. Burns, C. Luckett. Consumer Preferences for Salads and Lunch Meat with Varying Best if Used-By Dates: An Experimental Auction Approach with Sensory Evaluation. Agricultural and Applied Economics Association Annual Meeting. Anaheim, CA. July 31- August 2, 2022.
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Progress 01/01/21 to 12/31/21
Outputs
Target Audience:We conducted experimental auctions using participants recruited from the Knoxville, TN area. These auctions had some educational components about what best if used by dates on labels mean (using the FDA recommended definition). A total of 180 people participated. These participants came from studetns, faculty, staff, and the general population in the area. Changes/Problems:COVID-19 protocols pushed back the experimental auciton by a few months. However, we were able to implement the experimental auction in late 2021, using mask requirements, and cleaning/dissinfection of facilitiesbetween auction groups, and desk partitions between participants. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?A graduate student, M.S. thesis-level assisted with the experimental auction and will be using this data for their thesis, publications, and professional presentations. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In year 2 of the project, we will i) be analyzing the data from the experimental auction for bagged salads and lunch meat, ii) administering the household food waste recall survey to 1,200 households and analyzing that data, iii) administering online consumer surveys to 2,000 households regarding their perceptions about changing food shopping patterns based on grocery retailers using food loss and waste reduction programs and effects of the types of food loss and waste reduction measures on shopper behaviors. This survey will be drafted in early 2022 and submitted for UT Human Subjects approval. The survey will be administwered in the second half of the year. In second half of 2022, the survey of Tennessee grocers about their perceptions of food loss and waste reduction programs by retailers will be developed, submitted for human subjects approval and administered.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
For the objective to measure the FL&W behaviors by consumers in the home and the effect of household attributes, shopping behavior and attitudes toward the FL&W issue and programs on these behaviors-A) an experimental auction was conducted at the University of Tennessee Center for Sensory Science. This auction measured the willigness to pay for bagged salads and lunch meats with closer and more distant best if used by dates, and also the effects of sensory treatments (tasting, smell, etc) and an information screen about the meaning of best if used by dates suggested by the FDA. Data about best if used by date, food waste, and other perceptions were collected, as well as partipant demographics. Data were collected for 180 individuals from the Knoxville, TN area. B) a survey instrument has been developed and approved by the University of Tennessee Human Subjects Review committee to measure household food waste recall. This survey will be administered in early 2022 to 1,200 households across the U.S. Data from this survey will provide measures of how much food households waste, their perceptions about food waste, and household demographics.
Publications
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