Lisa House

University of Florida | UF · Department of Food and Resource Economics

This study examines the spillover effect of California's 2016 single‐use bag ban (SB 270) on unregulated single‐use plastics (SUPs) like cutlery, cups, and plates. We observed an insignificant 4.8% decrease in SUP sales over the entire post‐policy period, but a larger 8.1% drop in the second post‐year, which was only marginally significant. The fin...

This study analyzes NielsenIQ household scanner data, exploring the environmental motivation behind organic food consumption using single‐use plastics spending as a proxy for environmental concern. To investigate the relationship between the two environmental behaviors, organic food and single‐use plastic, the study utilizes the instrumental variab...

Objectives Examine US consumer pet‐related and veterinary service expenditures and factors influencing US households’ use of veterinary services. Methods Descriptive analysis on pet‐related and veterinary service expenditures and regression analysis on pet owners’ use of veterinary services, using data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics Consum...

This publication examines the recent inflation in orange juice prices and consumer responses using Nielsen scanner and Orange Juice tracker datasets. Orange juice prices experienced high inflation, peaking at 14.1% in January 2023, leading to decreased sales in both volume and dollars. Consumers are aware of the ongoing inflation in orange juice pr...

This study aims to investigate consumer acceptance of gene‐edited orange juice, focusing on the influence of behavioral traits. Specifically, we conducted an online survey of US orange juice consumers, using a choice experiment to elicit consumers' preferences for gene editing (GE) versus gene modification (GM) in orange juice. We find that consume...

Existing research based on labels, risks and benefits, and cultural differences has focused on consumers’ preferences for genetically modified (GM) food products. Limited attention has been paid to the attitudes toward the source who developed the biotechnology. Because there may be trust issues associated with large multinational firms that are of...

People who received a more personally relevant message were motivated to pay closer attention to the information and actively process it, which ultimately may stimulate behavioral changes. Therefore, preferred information content has been used in many disciplines to promote effective communication. However, no study has explored the impact of prefe...

This study aims to develop a comprehensive understanding of food outlet choice patterns of Alternative Food System consumers (local and organic consumers) and evaluate if these patterns differ from that of conventional consumers. We conducted a nationwide online survey collecting data from U.S. food shoppers monthly. The data utilized in this study...

This study provides an overview of US food shoppers in 2017 and serves as a benchmark for analyzing consumer trends in the future. A nationwide sample of 5,993 adults, primary food shoppers in the United States completed a survey in 2017 to learn about food-related perspectives and trends. Consumers differ in food shopping outlets, grocery spending...

Although it is accepted that communication about biotechnology influences consumers' willingness to pay for food produced using genetic engineering technology, communication on subjects such as genetic technology is complex. With more ways to communicate with consumers following the rise of media, especially social media, providing such complex inf...

The Florida orange juice industry has experienced great challenges—declining orange juice consumption and a domestic supply shortage that has led to increasing imports over the past decade. As growers look for a foothold, the question remains whether it is better to continue promoting orange juice (OJ) sales by focusing on the Florida “brand” or wh...

Qualitative studies suggest that college students with food insecurity (FI) experience stigma and misinterpret some of the USDA Adult Food Security Survey Module (AFSSM) questions, leading to misclassification of food security (FS) status. We aimed to evaluate differences in AFSSM-measured FS status and self-categorized FS status (based on USDA des...

Background Nutritional self-efficacy, confidence in following a healthy eating pattern, and growing and preparing food are predictors of diet quality (DQ), but their relationship is not understood. Self-efficacy may increase motivation to learn, and motivation to learn may influence related actions. Since nutritional self-efficacy is a predictor of...

Background Best practice for community-based interventions includes partnering with community stakeholders for study design, implementation, and evaluation. Successful recruitment of families with low income into these studies requires an understanding of community characteristics, potential barriers to participation, and recruitment strategies. Lo...

Background Families with low-income face barriers to cooking and eating healthy meals. Meal kits help reduce barriers to cooking and eating well by simplifying shopping, decision making, and meal preparation. While meal kits have become popular, cost may be a barrier. Additional research is needed to determine how meal kits should be priced to reac...

Background Research suggests that a diet with plant protein has health benefits. Recently, participants with low income who completed a pilot meal kit study ranked the vegetarian recipes as least desirable. Research is needed to better determine plant protein preferences in populations with low income, which may highlight the need for programs that...

Background Stress is associated with unhealthy eating behaviors, which increases risk for chronic disease. People with low income face many stressors, such as decreased access to healthy food. Recent research suggests that providing healthy meal kits may decrease perceived stress (PS) of main preparers of food with low income, but more research is...

Background The MacArthur Scale of Subjective Social Status (SSS) is a two-item measure that assesses a participant's perceived rank relative to a group and is positively correlated with a participant's mental and physical health. Objective To evaluate the impact of a meal kit intervention on SSS of participants with low income in two communities....

Faced with reduced domestic supply, competition from imports, and high production costs, the Florida citrus industry and Florida growers need to understand how consumers perceive Florida-produced orange juice and whether they value it more than OJ produced elsewhere. We conducted a national survey to understand consumers' perceptions and confirmed...

While food biotechnology has been widely applied and benefited the food and agriculture sector, community acceptance of biotechnology is still low. The factors that drive consumer rejection of food biotechnology have been well studied, but knowledge on the factors that drive willingness to purchase, particularly on an international level, is limite...

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed consumer grocery shopping choices and patterns. As consumers have looked for products that might boost their immune system, OJ has been seen as a convenient option to achieve this. By exploring both Nielsen grocery scanner data and a monthly consumer survey from April 2020 to March 2021, we provide a visual descrip...

Food waste has become a global issue that has received increased attention. Food waste at the household level is a major source of food loss in developed countries. While culture is an important factor shaping people’s behavior, comparison of food waste behaviors across countries and regions are still limited. This study uses primary data covering...

Families with low incomes face barriers to preparing healthy meals, including decreased food access and limited time, and may turn to fast, low-quality, and inexpensive foods. Affordable and accessible meal kits may reduce these barriers. The objective of this study was to explore the cooking, eating, and shopping behaviors of African American (AA)...

The food industry has been innovative in developing new products and services in response to the increasing demand for healthy and convenient food. Meal kits, a growing segment in the market, provide pre-measured bundles of raw ingredients with recipe cards for a complete home-cooked meal. However, to ensure food safety and quality, meal kits sold...

Food insecurity is a persistent issue among individuals with low income and is associated with various nutrition- and health-related consequences. Creative approaches to increasing food access should be investigated as possible solutions. Meal kits, which are boxes or bags of fresh and shelf-stable ingredients for one or more meals, along with a st...

To obtain a comprehensive picture of current food lifestyle patterns, this study aims to identify consumer segments with a focus on health‐related considerations, and to profile segmented consumers based on demographic characteristics. As an adaptation of the Food‐related Lifestyle instrument, consumer segmentation indicators in this study capture...

Global grapefruit production has been increasing steadily in the recent decade, reaching a historical record of 6.8 million metric tons in 2018/2019. This publication discusses grapefruit consumption as well as a grapefruit consumer survey in the United States. Written by Lijun (Angelia) Chen and Lisa House, and published by the UF/IFAS Food and Re...

While the Covid-19 pandemic has increased the number of food insecure households in the United States (US), it is unclear how it has affected college student food security status. College students are ineligible for many Covid-19-related economic relief programs and may find it even more difficult to cope during the pandemic. Therefore, the purpose...

The absence or presence of an alternative in a choice set may change the relative preference and predicted market share results. In this study, three groups of experiments are performed to determine if choice context influences consumer preference for orange juice from different countries of origin and using different production methods. Our result...

Accounting for a quarter of the population in the United States, the millennial generation is believed to have stronger buying power than other generations. But does targeting orange juice marketing to millennials, and, in particular, millennial parents, reap rewards? This 4-page fact sheet written by Yan Heng, Ronald W. Ward, and Lisa A. House and...

Using data from a monthly consumer survey, we present recent findings regarding consumers’ responses to the COVID-19 outbreak in terms of OJ purchases. This study provides an initial look at the consumers who have contributed to the surge in OJ sales, as well as the reasons why their purchases of orange juice have changed or stayed the same. Such f...

This 4-page fact sheet written by Yan Heng, Marisa Zansler, and Lisa House and published by the UF/IFAS Food and Resource Economics Department presents consumers’ responses to a monthly survey and provides a look at those consumers who have contributed to a surge in orange juice sales since April. It is intended to help the industry understand the...

Background Meal kit services are increasingly popular, yet target higher income consumers. Low-income families may benefit from this service because it reduces barriers to cooking healthy foods at home, but acceptability and affordability must be determined. Objective To determine the acceptability and affordability of a culturally acceptable, hea...

The importance of customer ratings or reviews in online shopping has been recognized in the previous literature; however, few have studied how online customer rating scores affect consumers’ fresh produce purchases and its importance relative to other fresh produce attributes. The quality of fresh produce demonstrates high uncertainty and variation...

The authors of this 4-page fact sheet, Yan Heng, Mitzey Tejeda, and Lisa House, used a national survey to analyze and understand French consumer preferences and consumption behavior regarding grapefruit. They found that more than half of the respondents were willing to purchase grapefruit in the upcoming year, suggesting that French consumers hold...

Sugar-sweetened beverages are the primary source of added sugar consumption in the U.S, and the Food and Drug Administration recently updated the Nutrition Facts Label to communicate the amount of added sugars in manufactured food. The changes to the Nutrition Facts Label (NFL) is concurrent with some cities implementing policies that place an exci...

Martin County, Florida has a rich agricultural history with farming and cattle ranching being important economic drivers since the early 1930s. Nevertheless, the county struggles to meet the balance between food supply and demand. Farmers often face challenges finding sizable, secure, well-paying markets, and the most consumers do not participate i...

This study assesses whether varying contingent financial incentives in a web panel survey altered respondent behavior. A sample of US web panel participants were randomly assigned to cash incentive levels ranging from $0.50 to $3.00 awarded upon completion of an online survey gauging preferences for fresh strawberries. The analytical results indica...

Background According to the USDA, 11.8% of US households were food insecure in 2017. The inability to access fresh, healthy food greatly affects diet quality and overall health. Grocery shopping habits, meal preparation methods, and frequency of eating away from home also affect diet quality. Objective To qualitatively explore cooking and shopping...

Background Low-income families may face barriers accessing healthy food, which may negatively affect diet quality and food security. Meal kits have recently become popular and may help families overcome barriers to healthy eating. Meal kits provide consumers with recipes and ingredients required to create healthy meals. This is the first study to e...

Previous research indicates that consumers have a higher willingness to pay (WTP) for food products grown using sustainable production methods due to the perceived environmental benefits. Fresh produce can be produced using numerous sustainable methods, but it remains unclear which method is valued the most by consumers. In this study, we estimate...

The US orange juice (OJ) industry has experienced dramatic changes and pressure from both the supply and demand side in the past decade. It is critical for the industry to understand and enhance consumer’s demand to sustain the higher prices associated with decreased production and maintain demand for the point in time where production can recover....

Tomato juice has gained popularity in recent decades. However, little is known about tomato juice consumers in the United States. The goal of this research was to determine consumer attitudes towards current tomato juice offerings and willingness to pay for high flavor quality products. A sensory panel and a nation-wide survey were conducted to lea...

Background: The number of food pantries on U.S. college campuses has increased in response to students' food insecurity, but limited information is available to describe the impact of this resource. The objective of this cross-sectional investigation was to examine the relationship between food insecurity and food pantry awareness, use, and percei...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the fruit consumer segmentations and compare the consumption patterns across North America, Europe and East Asia. This study aims to identify the key drivers for fruit consumption across segments and regions, in terms of socioeconomics and shopping behavior. Design/methodology/approach An inter...

Genetically Modified (GM) foods have been a debated topic for decades, and consumer concerns are widespread. Scientific proposals to increase consumer acceptance include the use of cisgenics, where GM technology is used but the inserted gene(s) originates from closely related organisms. Results from a choice experiment display greater willingness t...

The number of farmers' markets in the U.S. has increased with the consumer demand for locally grown fresh produce. The popularity of farmer’ markets, however, also raises concern for safety of food sold at these markets. The objective of this study was to analyze the microbial quality of fresh produce from farmers' markets and compare it with the q...

This case study provides a thorough description of the U.S. orange juice industry, and focuses on Florida's Natural, a cooperative of citrus growers and owner of the Florida's Natural® brand. Florida's Natural® competes mainly with Tropicana, owned by PepsiCo, and with Minute Maid and Simply Orange, brands of The Coca-Cola Company. The objective of...

This paper investigates the effect of the South Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS-FTA) on U.S. competition with other suppliers for the import/export of orange juice. We use monthly trade data for 2007-2015 to estimate the import demand from the United States, Brazil, Israel, and the rest of the world. Our results suggest that U.S. suppliers h...

The purpose of this study is to investigate imperfect price reversibility and measure price sensitivity incorporated with the effect of trade promotions for refrigerated 100% orange juice (OJ). Using a price decomposition method with distributed lags, we test imperfect reversibility and asymmetric price responses. Empirical models consisted of pric...

This paper investigates the determinants of fresh and processed mushroom consumption in the United States by employing the zero-inflated ordered probit (ZIOP) model. The ZIOP model accounts for excessive zero observations and allows us to differentiate between genuine non-consumers and individuals who did not consume during the given period but mig...

The beverage sector plays an important role in consumers' daily diet. Recent declines in fruit beverage and soft drink consumption may be a reflection of changing consumers' lifestyles and perceptions. This study uses recent scanner data to develop a demand analysis to examine the competition of various beverages. To obtain reliable demand and elas...

This paper investigates the effect of the South Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (KORUS-FTA) on U.S. competition with other suppliers for the import/export of orange juice. We use monthly trade data for 2007-2015 to estimate the import demand from the United States, Brazil, Israel, and the Rest of the World (ROW). Our results suggest that U.S. suppl...

This study clusters consumers based on consumption frequency of 15 fresh fruits and results in three segments: low-frequency consumer, common-fruit consumer, and high-frequency consumer. These consumer segments are heterogeneous in socioeconomics and shopping behavior across regions. Overall, the high-frequency consumer cluster had more individuals...

According to the Foreign Agricultural Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, worldwide consumption of fresh grapefruit in 2014/15 increased from 4.2 million to 5.2 million metric tons. China, which is the largest producer of grapefruit, was largely responsible for the increase. In South Korea, however, the state of Florida in the U...

The purpose of this study is to examine consumer values for mandatory carbon labels incorporating South Korean consumers" perceptions about climate change using conjoint analysis. In a face-to-face consumer survey, we asked about individuals" perceptions of the impact of climate change on their personal lives to measure its effect on consumer prefe...

Conducting online surveys through consumer panels has become increasingly popular for researchers to assess consumers? preferences and attitudes for the purpose of obtaining welfare estimates because they are inexpensive, flexible, and allow for fast feedback. Interestingly, few studies have examined the behaviors of online survey panelists, partic...

Seafood contains high-quality protein, vitamins, and minerals that have many health benefits, but the average family’s consumption of seafood in the United States remains below recommended levels. To begin to understand how to raise consumption levels, the study described in this 3-page fact sheet focuses on the influence parents’ seafood consumpti...

China's ever increasing demand for agricultural products provides new opportunities for both domestic and foreign food companies. With Western-style products becoming increasingly popular across China, more information is needed to better evaluate the future market opportunities of different juice products. In this regard, we investigate Chinese co...

Organic agriculture is an industry sector that has been experiencing steady global growth in recent years. The United States is ranked first in organic food consumption, followed by Germany and France. In 2014, the estimated market value of organic foods in the U.S. was $42 billion; 43% of this total was attributed to produce (fruits and vegetables...

Federal rules require raw meat and poultry products to carry nutrition information, but such rules do not extend to fresh (raw) seafood products. This article examines the extent to which providing nutrition information could impact consumers' choices for seafood, with a special focus on parents with children, because parents influence the food pre...

The relevance of projection bias in decision making processes has been widely studied, but not specifically in experimental auctions. We study the role of projection bias in experimental auctions by examining the bidding behavior of hungry and non-hungry subjects on food products delivered either immediately after the auction or in 1 week’s time. R...

Traditionally, research on the impacts of generic advertising on food demand has focused on television advertising and in-store promotions. However, with the an increased use of advertising using social media, such as online banner advertisements, there is a need for investigation to determine whether online advertising has a similar impact as tele...

There are various types of marketing outlets that feature food with different attributes and quality. We conduct a series of BDM auctions at multiple marketing outlets (price-conscious grocery stores, quality-focused grocery stores and farmers' markets), to elicit consumers' willingness-to-pay for organic and local blueberries. The results show tha...

Our primary objective is to assess the role of culture by linking college students’ current consumption of fruits and vegetables with their produce consumption levels while with family. Using a Tobit model, we analyzed data from an online survey with college students. Family consumption of fruits was highly predictive of the individual’s consumptio...

This study measured the effect of media exposure on grapefruit/grapefruit juice consumption changes, in particular grapefruit-medicine interaction. Respondents' attitudes about health news on television and the internet were measured to account for consumers exposed versus not exposed to such information. Results of a sample selection model show th...

This study evaluated whether observing the orange squeezing (juicing) process can influence consumers' sensory evaluations and hedonics of different forms of orange juice. The juicing process delivers cognitive (freshness) and physical (olfactory/visual) food cues. Three forms of orange juice were used in the experiment: fresh squeezed, not-from-co...