The Social Determinants of Food Purchasing Practices: Who Chooses Price-before-Health, Taste-before-Price or Organic Foods in Australia? — Oak Academic Publishing
Research ArticleOpen AccessGoogle Scholar indexed
The Social Determinants of Food Purchasing Practices: Who Chooses Price-before-Health, Taste-before-Price or Organic Foods in Australia?
Discipline of Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia
,
Discipline of Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia
,
School of Nursing and Midwifery, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia
,
Population Research and Outcome Studies, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
,
Discipline of Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia
,
Discipline of Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia
1 Discipline of Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia
2 Discipline of Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia
3 School of Nursing and Midwifery, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia
4 Population Research and Outcome Studies, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
5 Discipline of Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia
6 Discipline of Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia
A survey of the extent to which cost, taste and health considerations impact food purchasing practices in Australia was conducted. Data were gathered from a national computer assisted telephone survey of 1109 randomly sampled house- holders and analysed using multiple logistic regression analysis. 88% of respondents considered the taste of food before its price, with females and people on higher incomes more likely to do so. 52% of respondents said that they considered the price of food before its health and nutritional benefits, with males, younger people and people with lower educa- tional qualifications more likely to do so. 49% said that they purchase organic food, with people with 1 child, full-time employed and people never married more likely to do so. Overall, gender, income, education, work status, age and family size are all important predictors of food purchasing practices in Australia.
K. Seear, S. Fraser, J. Wright, J. Maher and A. Petersen, “Peeling away the Onion. Report on a National Consultation on Childhood Obesity Research, Policy and Practice in Australia,” Centre for Women’s Studies and Gender Research, Monash University, 2010.
P. Bourdieu, “Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste,” Routledge, London, 1984.
P. Bourdieu, “Outline of a Theory of Practice,” Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1977.
A. Sayer, “The Moral Significance of Class,” Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2005. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511488863
K. Glanz, M. Basil, K. Maibach, J. Goldberg and D. Snyder, “Why Americans Eat What They Do: Taste, Nutrition, Cost, Convenience and Weight Concerns as Influences on Food Consumption,” Journal of the American Dietetics Association, Vol. 98, No. 10, 2003, pp. 11181126. doi:10.1016/S0002-8223(98)00260-0
A. Drewnowski and N. Darmon, “The Economics of Obesity. Diet, Energy Density and Energy Costs,” The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 82, No. 1, 2005, pp. 265-273.
A. Drewnowski and S. Specter, “Poverty and Obesity: The Role of Energy Density and Energy Costs,” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 79, No. 1, 2004, pp. 6-16.
M. Harrison, T. Coyne, A. Lee, D. Leonard, S. Lowson, A. Groos and B. Ashton, “The Increasing Cost of the Basic Foods Required to Promote Health in Queensland,” Medical Journal of Australia, Vol. 186, No. 1, 2007, pp. 9-14.
Australian Bureau of Statistics, “Consumer Price Index Australia: June Quarter 2008,” 2008.
G. Turrell and A. M. Kavanagh, “Socio-Economic Pathways to Diet: Modelling the Association between SocioEconomic Position and Food Purchasing Behaviour,” Public Health Nutrition, Vol. 9, No. 3, 2006, pp. 375-383. doi:10.1079/PHN2005850
M. S. Harrison, T. Coyne, A. J. Lee and D. Leonard, “The Increasing Cost of the Basic Foods Required to Promote Health in Queensland,” Medical Journal of Australia, Vol. 186, No. 1, 2007, p. 9.
S. Booth and A. Smith, “Food Security and Poverty in Australia—Challenges for Dietitians,” Australian Journal of Nutrition and Dietetics, Vol. 58, No. 3, 2001, pp. 150156.
N. Wrigley, D. Warm, B. Margetts and M. Lowe, “The Leeds ‘Food Deserts’ Intervention Study: What the Focus Groups Reveal,” International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Vol. 32, No. 2, 2004, pp. 123-136. doi:10.1108/09590550410521798
S. Kirkpatrick and V. Tarasuk, “Adequacy of Food Spending Is Related to Housing Expenditures among LowerIncome Canadian Households,” Public Health Nutrition, Vol. 10, No. 12, 2007, pp. 1464-1473.
J. Douglas, “Food Insecurity in Northern Adelaide,” SACOSS, 2006.
I. Law, P. Ward and J. Coveney, “Food Insecurity in South Australian Single Parents: A Livelihoods Framework Approach,” Critical Public Health, in press. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09581596.2011.619963
K. Alaimo, C. M. Olson, E. Frongillo and R. Briefel, “Food Insufficiency, Family Income, and Health in US Preschool and School-Aged Children,” American Journal of Public Health, Vol. 91, No. 5, 2001, pp. 781-786. doi:10.2105/AJPH.91.5.781
K. Martin and A. Ferris, “Food Insecurity and Gender Are Risk Factors for Obesity,” Journal of Nutrition Education and Behaviour, Vol. 39, No. 1, 2007, pp. 31-36. doi:10.1016/j.jneb.2006.08.021
H. Seligman, A. Bindman, E. Vittinghoff, A. Kanaya and M. Kushel, “Food Insecurity Is Associated with Diabetes Mellitus: Results from the National Health Examination and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 19992002,” Journal of General Internal Medicine, Vol. 22, No. 7, 2007, pp. 1018-1023. doi:10.1007/s11606-007-0192-6
N. Vozoris and V. Tarasuk, “Household Food Insufficiency Is Associated with Poorer Health,” The Journal of Nutrition, Vol. 133, No. 1, 2003, pp. 120-126.
S. Kirkpatrick and V. Tarasuk, “Food Insecurity Is Associated with Nutrient Inadequacies among Canadian Adults and Adolescents,” Journal of Nutrition, Vol. 138, No. 3, 2008, pp. 604-612.
W. Foley, P. Ward, P. Carter, J. Coveney, G. Tsourtos and A. Taylor, “An Ecological Analysis of Factors Associated with Food Insecurity in South Australia 20022007,” Public Health Nutrition, Vol. 13, 2010, pp. 215221.
G. Marks, I. Coles-Rutishauser, K. Webb and P. Picton, “Key Food and Nutrition Data for Australia 1990-1999,” Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra, 2001.
C. Shannon, “Acculturation: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nutrition,” Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 11, Suppl. 3, 2002, pp. S576-S578.
D. Gallegos, P. Ellies and J. Wright, “Still There’s No Food! Food Insecurity in a Refugee Population in Perth, Western Australia,” Nutrition & Dietetics, Vol. 65, No. 1, 2008, pp. 78-83. doi:10.1111/j.1747-0080.2007.00175.x
K. Wong, J. Coveney, P. Ward, R. Muller, P. Carter, F. Verity and G. Tsourtos, “Availability, Affordability and Quality of a Healthy Food Basket in Adelaide, South Australia,” Nutrition and Dietetics, Vol. 68, No. 1, 2011, pp. 8-14. doi:10.1111/j.1747-0080.2010.01490.x
E. Dowler, “Budgeting for Food on a Low Income in the UK: The Case of Lone-Parent Families,” Food Policy, Vol. 22, No. 5, 1997, pp. 405-417. doi:10.1016/S0306-9192(97)00031-6
A. Donkin, E. Dowler, S. Stevenson and S. Turner, “Mapping Access to Food in a Deprived Area: The Development of Price and Availability Indices,” Public Health Nutrition, Vol. 3, No. 1, 2000, pp. 31-38. doi:10.1017/S1368980000000057
A. Ellaway and S. Macintyre, “Shopping for Food in Socially Contrasting Localities,” British Food Journal, Vol. 102, No. 1, 2000, pp. 52-59. doi:10.1108/00070700010310632
L. Mcintyre, “Food Security: More Than a Determinant of Health,” Policy Options, Vol. 24, No. 3, 2003, pp. 4651.
G. Turrell and A. Kavanagh, “Socio-Economic Pathways to Diet: Modelling the Association between Socio-Economic Position and Food Purchasing Behaviour,” Public Health Nutrition, Vol. 9, No. 3, 2006, pp. 375-383. doi:10.1079/PHN2005850
J. Coveney and L. O’Dwyer, “Effects of Mobility and Location on Food Access,” Health & Place, Vol. 15, No. 1, 2009, pp. 45-55. doi:10.1016/j.healthplace.2008.01.010
P. Kristiansen, A. Mitchell, N. Bez and A. Monk, “Australian Organic Market Report 2010,” Biological Framers of Australia, Chermside, 2010.
C. Williams, “Nutritional Quality of Organic Food: Shades of Grey or Shades of Green?” Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, Vol. 61, No. 1, 2002, pp. 19-24. doi:10.1079/PNS2001126
G. Harper and A. Makatouni, “Consumer Perception of Organic Food Production and Farm Animal Welfare,” British Food Journal, Vol. 104, No. 3-5, 2002, pp. 287299. doi:10.1108/00070700210425723
E. K. Yiridoe, S. Bonti-Ankomah and R. C. Martin, “Comparison of Consumer Perceptions and Preference toward Organic versus Conventionally Produced Foods: A Review and Update of the Literature,” Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems, Vol. 20, No. 4, 2005, pp. 193-205. doi:10.1079/RAF2005113
M. Magnusson, A. Arvola, U.-K. Hursti, L. ?berg and P. Sjoden, “Choice of Organic Foods Is Related to Perceived Consequences for Human Health and to Environmentally Friendly Behaviour,” Appetite, Vol. 40, No. 2, 2003, pp. 109-117. doi:10.1016/S0195-6663(03)00002-3
J. Cranfield, B. Deaton and S. Shellikeri, “Evaluating Consumer Preferences for Organic Food Production Standards,” Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol. 57, No. 1, 2009, pp. 99-107.
P. Williams, E. Stirling and N. Keynes, “Food Fears: A National Survey on the Attitudes of Australian Adults about the Safety and Quality of Food,” Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 13, No. 1, 2004, pp. 32-39.
A. Dangour, S. Dodhia, A. Hayter, E. Allen, K. Lock and R. Uauy, “Nutritional Quality of Organic Foods: A Systematic Review,” The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 60, 2009, pp. 680-685. doi:10.3945/ajcn.2009.28041
A. Dangour, K. Lock, A. Hayter, A. Aikenhead, E. Allen and R. Uauy, “Nutrition-Related Health Effects of Organic Foods: A Systematic Review,” The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 92, No. 1, 2010, pp. 203210. doi:10.3945/ajcn.2010.29269
D. Neumark-Sztainer, M. Story, C. Perry and M. Casey, “Factors Influencing Food Choices of Adolescents: Findings from Focus-Group Discussions with Adolescents,” Journal of the American Dietetic Society, Vol. 99, No. 8, 1999, pp. 929-937. doi:10.1016/S0002-8223(99)00222-9
P. Rozin, C. Fischler, S. Imada, A. Saubin and A. Wrzesniewski, “Attitudes to Food and the Role in Life in the USA, Japan, Flemish Belgium and France: Possible Implications for the Diet-Health Debate,” Appetite, Vol. 33, No. 2, 1999, pp. 163-180. doi:10.1006/appe.1999.0244
K. Roininen, H. Tuorila, E. Zandstra, C. de Graaf, K. Vehkalahti, K. Stubenitsky and D. Mela, “Differences in Health and Taste Attitudes and Reported Behaviour among Finnish, Dutch and British Consumers: A CrossNational Validation of the Health and TASTE Attitude Scales (HTAS),” Appetite, Vol. 37, No. 2001, pp. 33-45. doi:10.1006/appe.2001.0414
J. Henderson, J. Coveney and P. Ward, “Who Regulates food? Australians’ Perceptions of Responsibility for Food Safety,” Australian Journal of Primary Health, Vol. 16, No. 4, 2010, pp. 344-351. doi:10.1071/PY10011
J. Henderson, J. Coveney, P. Ward and A. Taylor, “Governing Childhood Obesity: Framing Regulation of Fast Food Advertising in the Australian Print Media,” Social Science and Medicine, Vol. 69, No. 9, 2009, pp. 14021408. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2009.08.025
P. Ward, J. Henderson, J. Coveney and S. Meyer, “How Do South Australian Consumers Negotiate and Respond to Information in the Media about Food and Nutrition? The Importance of Risk, Trust and Uncertainty,” Journal of Sociology, Vol. 48, No. 1, 2012, pp. 21-39. doi:10.1177/1440783311407947
D. Hosmer and S. Lemeshow, “Applied Logistic Regression,” 2nd Edition, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 2000. doi:10.1002/0471722146
A. Field, “Discovering Statistics Using SPSS,” 3rd Edition, Sage, London, 2009.
R. Curtin, S. Presser and E. Singer, “Changes in Telephone Survey Nonresponse over the Past Quarter Century,” Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 69, No. 1, 2005, pp. 87-88. doi:10.1093/poq/nfi002
R. M. Groves, “Nonresponse Rates and Nonresponse Bias in Household Surveys,” Public Opinion Quarterly, Vol. 70, No. 5, 2006, pp. 646-675. doi:10.1093/poq/nfl033
D. Wilson, G. Starr, A. Taylor and E. Dal Grande, “Random Digital Dialling and Electronic White Pages Samples Compared,” Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, Vol. 23, No. 6, 1999, pp. 627-633.
E. Dal Grande, A. Taylor and D. Wilson, “Is There a Difference in Health Estimates between People with Listed and Unlisted Telephone Numbers?” Australian & New Zealand Journal of Public Health, Vol. 29, No. 5, 2005, pp. 448-456. doi:10.1111/j.1467-842X.2005.tb00225.x
D. Dilman, G. Phelps, R. Tortora, K. Swift, J. Kohrell, J. Berck and B. Messer, “Response Rate and Measurement Differences in Mixed Mode Surveys Using Mail, Telephone, Interactive Voice Response (IVR) and the Internet,” Social Science and Medicine, Vol. 38, No. 1, 2009, pp. 1-18. doi:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2008.03.007
T. Alderson and J. Ogden, “What Do Mothers Feed Their Children and Why?” Health Education Research, Vol. 14, No. 6, 1999, pp. 717-727. doi:10.1093/her/14.6.717
K. Soper, “Re-Thinking the ‘Good Life’: The Citizenship Dimension of Consumer Disaffection with Consumerism,” Journal of Consumer Culture, Vol. 7, No. 2, 2007, pp. 205-229. doi:10.1177/1469540507077681
J. Guthman, “Fast Food/Organic Food: Reflexive Tastes and the Making of ‘Yuppie Chow’,” Social and Cultural Geography, Vol. 4, No. 1, 2003, pp. 35-48. doi:10.1080/1464936032000049306
J. O’Neill, “Economy, Equality and Recognition,” In: L. Ray and A. Sayer, Eds., Culture and Economy after the Cultural Turn, Sage, London, 1999, pp. 76-91.
F. Wang, J. Zhang, W.-S. Mu, Z.-T. Fu and X.-S. Zhang, “Consumers’ Perception towards Quality and Safety of Fishery Products, Beijing, China,” Food Control, Vol. 20, No. 10, 2009, pp. 918-922. doi:10.1016/j.foodcont.2009.01.008
K. C. Backett-Milburn, W. J. Wills, S. Gregory and J. Lawton, “Making Sense of Eating, Weight and Risk in the Early Teenage Years: Views and Concerns of Parents in Poorer Socio-Economic Circumstances,” Social Science & Medicine, Vol. 63, No. 3, 2006, pp. 624-635. doi:10.1016/j.socscimed.2006.02.011
E. O. Nightingale and B. Fischhoff, “Adolescent Risk and Vulnerability: Overview,” Journal of Adolescent Health, Vol. 31, Suppl. 1, 2002, pp. S3-S9. doi:10.1016/S1054-139X(02)00413-5
J. Byrnes, D. Miller and W. Schafer, “Gender Differences in Risk Taking: A Meta Analysis,” Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 125, No. 3, 1999, pp. 367-383.