Measuring sustainable food consumption: A case study on organic food

This study aims to contribute to the debate on consumers’ food buying practices with regard to sustainability issues, and specifically to preferences for organic. In order to analyse organic food buying practices in depth, this paper proposes a methodology of analysis based on two steps. First of all, a fuzzy logic has been used for the construction of composite index. In particular, we propose three indices that summarize a set of variables for measuring organic consumption intensity (OCI), the degree of both food sustainability concerns (FSCI) and sustainability in consumers’ lifestyle (SLI). Then a regression has been implemented to analyse if organic consumption intensity is affected by the other two previously mentioned indices (FSCI and SLI), and by other selected covariates. As case study, survey data on a sample of consumers resident in Campania (a region in south of Italy) have been used. From our results it emerges that consumers with a high OCI show a higher level of sustainability concern in their general food choices and have a more sustainable lifestyle. Furthermore, food scares and concerns over food safety are strong predictors of organic consumption intensity. Lastly, women and young people show a higher intensity of organic food consumption. Overall, these empirical findings suggest to industry practitioners and policy makers that to increase organic food consumption efforts should be made, to communicate health, as well as environmental and social benefits related to the production and consumption of such food, focusing on younger consumers as key stakeholders in the transition towards more sustainable food systems.