Consumption and attitudes regarding berries-based products – comparative analysis of Romania, France and Turkey

Abstract

Berry-based products that have beneficial effects on consumer health are competitive on the market only if consumers understand the benefits of such products. The purpose of this research was to gain in-depth analysis the factors that influence the consumer choices and behaviour towards berry based food products in three different countries, from eastern and western Europe: Romania, France and Turkey. These three countries as a three distinctive markets for organic products were chosen to find out similar and different attitudes and behaviour towards organic food consumption. This cross-cultural consumer study aims to contribute to socioeconomic research market actors and policy makers. French consumers appear to be the most loyal consumers of berries-based products out of the three countries investigated, preferring mostly fresh berries, jams and dairy products based on berries. In Turkey and Romania, the berries consumption is mostly occasional. Turkish consumers prefer mainly dried berries, while Romanian consumers – the frozen variant and muesli.

Full text

Romanian Biotechnological Letters Vol. 22, No. 3, 2017
Copyright © 2017 University of Bucharest Printed in Romania. All rights reserved
ORIGINAL PAPER
Romanian Biotechnological Letters, Vol. 22, No. 3, 2017
12568
Consumption and attitudes regarding berries-based products –
comparative analysis of Romania, France and Turkey
Received for publication, May 15, 2016
Accepted, January 05, 2017
MONA ELENA POPA1, MIHAELA GEICU-CRISTEA1*, ALEXANDRA POPA1,
MIHAELA DRĂGHICI1, ELISABETA ELENA TĂNASE1, AMALIA MITELUŢ1,
CORNELIU SORIN IORGA1, CAROLE GUILLAUME2, NATHALIE GONTARD2,
VALÉRIE GUILLARD2, FAHRETTIN GOGU3, DERYA KOÇAK YANIK3
1University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine Bucharest, Faculty of
Biotechnologies, Department of Industrial Biotechnologies, 59 Mărăşti Bld., sector 1,
011464, Bucharest, Romania, tel: +(40)374022802
2Agropolymers Engineering and Emerging Technologies, UMR 1208 IATE UM, CIRAD,
INRA, Montpellier SupAgro, 2 place Pierre Viala, Bat 31, 34060 Montpellier cedex 01
France, tel: +(33)499612432
3Food Engineering Department, Gaziantep University, Üniversite Bulvarı 27310 Şehitkamil,
Gaziantep, Turkey, tel. : +90 (342) 360 1200
*Address for correspondence to: mihaela_geicu@yahoo.com
Abstract
Berry-based products that have beneficial effects on consumer health are competitive on the
market only if consumers understand the benefits of such products. The purpose of this research was to
gain in-depth analysis the factors that influence the consumer choices and behaviour towards berry
based food products in three different countries, from eastern and western Europe: Romania, France
and Turkey. These three countries as a three distinctive markets for organic products were chosen to
find out similar and different attitudes and behaviour towards organic food consumption. This cross-
cultural consumer study aims to contribute to socio-economic research market actors and policy
makers. French consumers appear to be the most loyal consumers of berries-based products out of the
three countries investigated, preferring mostly fresh berries, jams and dairy products based on berries.
In Turkey and Romania, the berries consumption is mostly occasional. Turkish consumers prefer mainly
dried berries, while Romanian consumers – the frozen variant and muesli.
Keywords: marketing research, consumer behaviour, online questionnaire, organic berry-based products
1. Introduction
Fruit and vegetables are important components of a healthy diet, WHO suggest consuming
more than 400 grams fruit and vegetables per day to improve overall health and reduce risk of
certain non-communicable diseases (http://www.who.int/elena/titles/fruit_vegetables_ncds/en/
[1]). Yearly average consumption, for fruit and fruit products (equivalent fresh fruit) in
Romania was 65.7 kg in 2009, 67.0 kg in 2010, 74.7 kg in 2011, 71.1 kg in 2012, 73.7 kg in
2013, 80.2 kg in 2014 (National Institute of Statistics, Romanian Statistical Yearbook, 2015
[2]), while in France the consumption of fruit and vegetables is 350 grams per day (or 127 kg
per year) (DUTOIT, 2015 [3]). By volume, more fruit are bought than vegetables in France
(84 kg and 81 kg respectively) (http://www.eurofresh-distribution.com/news/france-higher-
consumption-bananas-berries-exotics [4]). In Turkey the fruit consumption is 230 kg per
capita (BURELL & OSKAM, 2005 [5]). In today’s society, the consumption preferences are
diversified and deeply changed than in the past; income, demographic variables and lifestyle,
are no longer sufficient to categorize consumers (FABRIS, 2003 [6]; FARRUGGIA & al.,
2016 [7]). Among the different factors that influence the acceptance or rejection of food,
attitudes, beliefs and opinions of their potential consumers are relevant and can in some cases

Consumption and attitudes regarding berries-based products –
comparative analysis of Romania, France and Turkey
Romanian Biotechnological Letters, Vol. 22, No. 3, 2017
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be decisive. The influence of these factors on food choice and purchase is especially
important in the acceptance of some types of food (organic or ecological, genetically modified
or functional) that are presented to the consumer as a possible alternative to conventional food
(POPA M. & POPA A., 2012 [8]). Sensory characteristics of food can be considered as one
of the key factors in food acceptance. People prefer to eat what is tasty, but the importance of
food taste may differ between individuals. Health benefits may have a positive impact on
consumer acceptance (JAEGER & al., 2009 [9]). Fruit, especially berries, have been found to
possess pharmacological and biochemical properties that are caused mainly by the antioxidant
activity of their diversified compositions (JIA & al., 2012 [10]). Berry fruit have been widely
recognized as an excellent source of bioactive phenolic compounds including flavonoids,
phenolic acids, and tannins that both individually and synergistically may help protect against
cardiovascular disease, cancer, inflammation, obesity, diabetes, and other chronic diseases
(WU & al., 2010 [11]). Referring to the factors that influence the purchase decisions, the
healthiness of berries or berries-based products can be an important factor affecting their
acceptance and use. Moreover, the individually varying sensitivities for different tastes may
have an important impact on the perception of berries or berries-based products (SUOMELA
& al., 2012 [12]; HARTVIG & al., 2014 [13]; SANDELL & al., 2015 [14]; LAAKSONEN &
al., 2016 [15]). FARRUGGIA & al. (2016) [7] have showed that nutraceutical properties and
health benefits of berries have a strong appeal to consumers and confirmed that intrinsic
attributes are determinants of consumer purchase decision. DI PALMA (2011) [16] points out
that among the factors that influence the growth of consumption of berries there is, on the one
hand, the growing interest in food preparations by a large part of consumers, and on the other,
the health properties owned by such fruit. Regarding this latter aspect, the increased
awareness of the important health properties and nutraceutical held by several species of small
fruit, is one of the main reasons that drive consumers into buying choice (CRESCIMANNO &
al., 2014 [17]). This paper will describe the organic food consumer with classification in age,
gender, family structure, education level and income level. Furthermore, consumer attitude
will be examined and common and distinctive attitudes will be underlined. Lastly, the product
choice of the three countries has been examined.
2. Materials and Methods
Choice of the topic. This paper tried to gain in-depth knowledge and analyses the
factors that influence consumer choices of buying berry-based products. The findings help to
provide suggestions for implementation in industry new processing techniques of berries. For
this purpose this study tried to test the consumer perceptions regarding the berry-based
products consumption in three different countries, which could be the preliminary research for
developing new processing techniques and packaging materials in order to obtain safe, high
quality and healthy organic berry products.
Research Instruments
Questionnaire. The analysis of consumers’ perceptions regarding the quality and
health aspects of berries was carried out for Romania, France and Turkey. In order to collect
the data, the questionnaire was developed based on a literature review on consumer behaviour
(FARRUGGIA & al., 2016 [7]). The questionnaire was first prepared in English language and
then it was translated into French, Romanian and Turkish languages with small modifications
depending on each country demands (e.g. the income levels were express in each country’s
currency, respectively, Romanian New Leu, Euro and Turkish lira). The questionnaire was
designed to contain 15 questions, which comprised of three sections: shopping behaviour,
consumption and attitudes of berries-based products type and their fabrication techniques, and

MONA ELENA POPA, MIHAELA GEICU-CRISTEA, ALEXANDRA POPA, MIHAELA DRĂGHICI,
ELISABETA ELENA TĂNASE, AMALIA MITELUŢ, CORNELIU SORIN IORGA, CAROLE GUILLAUME,
NATHALIE GONTARD, VALÉRIE GUILLARD, FAHRETTIN GOGU, DERYA KOÇAK YANIK
Romanian Biotechnological Letters, Vol. 22, No. 3, 2017
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socio-demographics. The first part of the questionnaire included questions about the person
who decides what food products shall be bought in the respondent household, the frequency
and the locations for food shopping, the health status of the respondents and what food the
respondent used to buy and consume. The questions were designed to collect data on main
motivations that drive consumers in their choice (purchase and consumption) and the purpose
of purchase and identification of quality attributes (intrinsic and extrinsic) for berries.
The responses for food safety, origin, price, health benefits, market availability, eco-friendliness,
such as “It happened to buy fresh berries that were already spoiled”, “I prefer to buy food
products with locally sourced berries”, “I think frozen berries are a convenient choice”,
“I seldom buy fresh berries because they get spoiled too fast”, “I am willing to pay more in
orderto have a healthy diet”, were measured with five Likert-type measures (1 = totally disagree;
2 = disagree; 3 = neither agree or disagree; 4 = agree; 5 = totally agree). Respondents were
asked to judge the importance of the following general choice criteria when purchasing berry
based products: taste preferences, packaging, price, product naturalness, organic certification,
store availability, local origin of berries, recommendation, sales promotions, commercials,
health or nutritional claims on pack and the extended expiration date. Each criterion was rated
on a five Likert-type scale ranging from “not important” to “very important”. One series of eight
questions were selected to describe the socio-demographic profile of the respondents regarding
the gender, the age, education level, employment situation, family structure and incomes.
Survey. Pre-survey: In order to prepare and form the questionnaires for the survey, some
short interviews were conducted with six consumers. These practices helped to find out main
aspects from a consumer perspective. Afterwards, a pilot survey was carried out on a sample
of 30 consumers in order to make sure the survey questions operate well and function as
expected (BRYMAN & BELL, 2011 [18]). The survey preview link was sent to 30 people in
order to avoid mistakes on the questions and to test if the skipped logic worked well.
The feedback helped to change some phrases into understandable words in several questions,
correct some spelling errors, and also some suggestions were made in order to improve the
survey. For this study, Survey monkey “Plus subscription” lasting in one month was used.
(Surveymonkey.com is a commercial website that allowsthe collection of online responses).
The website is considered to be superior to other free online survey tools and more suitable
for the purpose of the survey.
Sampling method and procedure. The main qualitative and quantitative methods
applicable to the investigation on the consumer opinions and attitudes towards food are: depth
interviews focus groups, questionnaire-based surveys (BARRIOS & al., 2004 [19]). In the
current study, researchers gathered the data through a questionnaire-based online survey,
being the most cost and time efficient method. Snowball sample method was used for empirical
data finding process. For this method of sampling the researcher made initial contact with a
small group of people who are relevant to the research topic and then used this to establish
contact with others (BRYMAN & BELL, 2010 [17]). For this study, firstly questionnaires
were designed on commercial website (surveymonkey.com), later the survey links were sent
out to initial contacts; that were carried out through emails and social media. Online survey
was completed by a total sample of 722 respondents from all three participating countries.
Participants. A total sample of 722 consumers was gathered, with 275 answers
received from Romanian consumers (79.27% women and 20.73% men), 281 from French
consumers (74.0% women and 25.80% men), and 166 responses from Turkish consumers
(61.40% women and 38.60% men). The socio-demographic profile of the sample is summed
up in Table 1.

Consumption and attitudes regarding berries-based products –
comparative analysis of Romania, France and Turkey
Romanian Biotechnological Letters, Vol. 22, No. 3, 2017
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Statistical analysis. Statistical proccessing was made using an IBM SPSS Statistics
24 program. Anova (Analysis of Variance) method was used to determine statistically significant
differences between groups as well as frequencies or crosstabulation statistics in order to
asses the buying behaviour of the consumers. Analysis of variance was conducted to test
whether socio-economic factors of consumers are important in explaining the buying
behaviour of berry fruits.
3. Results and discussion
The socio-demographics and health status of the respondents are presented in Table 1.
Table 1. Socio-demographics and health status of the survey respondents
Characteristics Romania France Turkey
Man 20.73% 25.80% 38.60%
Gender Woman 79.27% 74.20% 61.40%
married/ living with the life partner 71.72% 28.80% 45.20%
in a relationship, but not living together 11.67% 27.00% 0.00%
Marital status
single (including widows, divorced) 17.21% 44.20% 54.80%
lower than high school 0.81% 0.00% 0.60%
professional training/ college 0.41% 0.70% 0.60%
high school 6.91% 1.80% 6.00%
Education
higher education 91.87% 97.50% 92.80%
full time (>40 h/week) including business
owners 72.24% 40.20% 60.80%
part time (10-39 h/week) 4.47% 4.30% 3.60%
short term projects 2.63% 6.20% 1.80%
Employment
situation
unemployed (including students, housewives,
retired) 16.26% 49.30% 33.70%
1 8.16% - 11.40%
2 35.92% - 27.70%
3 32.65% - 25.90%
Household
size
4 or above 23.27% - 34.90%
Yes 30.17% 84.70% 38.60% With children under
18 y.o. No 69.83% 15.30% 61.40%
Between 18 and 24 years 9.05% 65.30% 21.70%
Between 25 and 34 years 33.74% 15.20% 51.20%
Between 35 and 44 years 16.46% 7.90% 9.60%
Between 45 and 54 years 28.40% 6.90% 10.20%
Age
Above 55 years 12.35% 4.70% 7.20%
Under 1500 RON/ EUR/ TRY 9.76% 53.50% 12.70%
1501 – 3000 RON/ EUR/ TRY 34.15% 21.20% 19.90%
3001 – 4500 RON/ EUR/ TRY 22.36% 10.30% 25.30%
Above 4501 RON/ EUR/ TRY 22.36% 7.30% 22.30%
Family’s average
monthly income
I refuse to answer 11.38% 7.70% 19.90%
Ulcer or other gastrointestinal diseases 8.42% 0.70% 15.10%
Diabetes 4.40% 2.20% 3.60%
Cardiovascular diseases 8.79% 0.40% 1.80%
Weight problems 17.58% 5.80% 10.80%
Allergies/ intolerances 5.49% 6.90% 10.20%
Pregnant 2.93% 0.40% 1.80%
Special diet 13.55% 7.70% 6.60%
Health status
None/ I refuse to answer 54.95% 80.30% 62.00%
* Note : 1 € = 4,51 RON ; 1 € = 3,81 TRY

MONA ELENA POPA, MIHAELA GEICU-CRISTEA, ALEXANDRA POPA, MIHAELA DRĂGHICI,
ELISABETA ELENA TĂNASE, AMALIA MITELUŢ, CORNELIU SORIN IORGA, CAROLE GUILLAUME,
NATHALIE GONTARD, VALÉRIE GUILLARD, FAHRETTIN GOGU, DERYA KOÇAK YANIK
Romanian Biotechnological Letters, Vol. 22, No. 3, 2017
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Shopping behaviour. In Table 2, the shopping behaviour is described, in terms of
shopping responsibility, food purchasing frequency and also the locations chosen by consumers
for food purchasing.
Table 2. Shopping responsibility, food purchasing frequency and food purchasing location
for Romanian, French and Turkish consumers
Answers
Questions
Answer options Romania (%) France (%) Turkey (%)
I am 44.44 63.70 26.50
somebody else 4.98 4.60 10.80
Shopping
responsibility
I, together with somebody else 50.57 31.70 62.70
more often than once per week 30.90 59.16 57.20
once per week 50.18 36.64 35.50
Food purchasing
frequency
less often than once per week 18.86 4.20 7.20
super-/hypermarket 93.80 96.80 87.30
open/traditional market 70.80 48.80 36.10
specialised shop 24.09 36.70 28.30
corner/convenience shop 29.56 20.30 14.50
The favourite
location for food
purchasing
online grocery store 3.65 3.90 4.20
In Romania and Turkey, more than half of the respondents (51%, respectively 63%)
are deciding together with somebody else what types of food products are bought in the
household; while in France, 64% of respondents make this decision on their own. In terms of
food purchasing frequency, the majority of respondents in all three countries go grocery
shopping weekly or more often. The favourite places to buy food supplies are hypermarkets
and supermarkets, with nine out of ten consumers visiting a big retail store to buy groceries.
The traditional market is the second favourite place for all Romanian, French and Turkish
respondents. The one-way ANOVA analysis revealed that women are more likely to be
responsible for shopping, alone or with somebody else (σ <0.02).
Figure 1. Consumer preferences for berries based products
Consumption of berries-based products. In terms of berries-based products consumption,
70% of French respondents prefer fresh berries (bulk or packaged), 54% of Romanians prefer
jams and marmalades, and 51% of Turkish respondents prefer dried berries mixed with nuts
or seeds, as depicted in Figure 1. On the second place, 38% of Romanian consumers prefer
dried berries mixed with cereals or cereal bars, 66% of French respondents prefer berries

Consumption and attitudes regarding berries-based products –
comparative analysis of Romania, France and Turkey
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jams, and 42% of Turkish respondents prefer fresh berries. Soft drinks and smoothies based
on berries and frozen berries appear to be the least consumed products, preferred by only
a third of consumers at most.
The highest levels of consumption for berries-based products appear for French respondents,
as it was expected compared to Romania and Turkey, France being a mature market with higher
purchasing power. These consumers acknowledge and appreciate the sensory characteristics
and the nutrient value of berries, together with their health benefits (see Table 3).
Table 3. Consumer attitudes and beliefs regarding berries-based products on a 5 points Likert-scale, where
disagreement is the sum of ‘totally disagree’ and ‘disagree’ and agreement is the sum of ‘totally agree’ and ‘agree’
Statements Romania France Turkey
It happened to buy fresh berries that were already spoiled
disagreement 40.73% 29.17% 78.92%
neither agreement or disagreement 9.09% 18.25% 10.24%
agreement 34.18% 51.96% 10.84%
not applicable 16.00% 0.71% -
I prefer to buy food products with locally sourced berries.
disagreement 4.36% 7.46% 27.71%
neither agreement or disagreement 9.82% 12.46% 13.86%
agreement 73.09% 79.72% 58.43%
not applicable 12.73% 0.36% -
I think frozen berries are a convenient choice.
disagreement 18.18% 16.72% 50.00%
neither agreement or disagreement 13.82% 23.13% 27.71%
agreement 56.36% 59.79% 22.29%
not applicable 11.64% 0.36% -
I seldom buy fresh berries because they get spoiled too fast.
disagreement 44.72% 63.70% 66.87%
neither agreement or disagreement 16.00% 21.35% 12.65%
agreement 26.55% 14.59% 20.48%
not applicable 12.73% 0.36% -
When I read on the label that berries have other origin than local, I avoid buying them.
disagreement 31.27% 23.85% 69.28%
neither agreement or disagreement 29.45% 29.18% 14.46%
agreement 28.73% 46.26% 16.26%
not applicable 10.55% 0.71% -
I am willing to pay more in order to have a healthy diet.
disagreement 4.72% 8.19% 15.66%
neither agreement or disagreement 6.55% 18.85% 9.64%
agreement 74.91% 72.25% 74.70%
not applicable 13.82% 0.71% -
I am actively interested into having a healthy diet.
disagreement 1.82% 5.33% 20.48%
neither agreement or disagreement 4.73% 14.23% 28.92%
agreement 79.63% 79.73% 50.60%
not applicable 13.82% 0.71% -
I feel that I have trouble finding berries based food products.
disagreement 24.00% 56.23% 53.01%
neither agreement or disagreement 20.73% 29.89% 24.70%
agreement 44.36% 13.17% 22.29%
not applicable 10.91% 0.71% -

MONA ELENA POPA, MIHAELA GEICU-CRISTEA, ALEXANDRA POPA, MIHAELA DRĂGHICI,
ELISABETA ELENA TĂNASE, AMALIA MITELUŢ, CORNELIU SORIN IORGA, CAROLE GUILLAUME,
NATHALIE GONTARD, VALÉRIE GUILLARD, FAHRETTIN GOGU, DERYA KOÇAK YANIK
Romanian Biotechnological Letters, Vol. 22, No. 3, 2017
12574
I eat organic food.
disagreement 19.64% 28.82% 35.54%
neither agreement or disagreement 28.00% 24.20% 26.51%
agreement 40.36% 45.91% 37.95%
not applicable 12.00% 1.07% -
I eat as much seasonal food products as possible.
disagreement 2.91% 6.41% 13.85%
neither agreement or disagreement 8.73% 10.68% 9.04%
agreement 74.54% 82.55% 77.11%
not applicable 13.82% 0.36% -
Berries are food produce with multiple health benefits.
disagreement 0.73% 1.78% 12.65%
neither agreement or disagreement 2.18% 27.40% 7.23%
agreement 82.54% 70.46% 80.12%
not applicable 14.55% 0.36% -
I actively look to eat berries based food products.
disagreement 6.90% 33.10% 22.89%
neither agreement or disagreement 30.55% 48.40% 14.46%
agreement 48.00% 17.43% 62.65%
not applicable 14.55% 1.07% -
In the stores I usually shop for food, I have trouble finding fresh berries.
disagreement 26.91% 40.57% 45.18%
neither agreement or disagreement 16.00% 31.67% 25.90%
agreement 46.18% 27.40% 28.92%
not applicable 10.91% 0.36% -
In both Romania and Turkey, the consumption of berries-based products is mostly
occasional, due to lower incomes in these countries compared to France (e.g. at the same amount
intervals of the income Turkish currency is almost fourth time and Romanian currency is
almost five times less than French currency, as seen in the Table 1). Nonetheless, a higher
consumption of dried berries occurs in Turkey, being part of the traditional food culture.
There is a statistical significant difference according to marital status in Turkey (σ = 0.010),
also employment status (σ = 0.039) and age (σ = 0.000) in Romania. The main beliefs held by
non-consumers of products based on berries believe are related to their perishable nature, less fit
to be sold in conventional retail. Moreover, when not locally sourced, berries are seen as less fresh
and less healthy, thus with a premium price harder to justify. The results indicate a significant
difference between the entire group of respondents and the countries group (σ = 0.000).
Figure 2. The most important determinants of choice for berries-based products (only responses that rate the
factors on a 5 point scale as important and very important are depicted)

Consumption and attitudes regarding berries-based products –
comparative analysis of Romania, France and Turkey
Romanian Biotechnological Letters, Vol. 22, No. 3, 2017
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Determinants and barriers of purchasing berries-based products. Almost all
consumers participating in the survey consider that taste and naturalness of the product are the
most important aspects when buying products based on berries (Figure 2). Packaging, price,
origin and the availability at the shelf are also important aspects. Less than half of French and
Turkish respondents are not impressed by advertisements, health benefits and extended shelf
life. They do not consider recommendations of other consumers while Romanians take
into account the recommendations of other consumers and also the novelty of the products.
The results indicate significant differences upon country of origin of respondents (σ =0.000),
exceptions occurred for the price and sales promotions.
4. Conclusion
This paper gives the first insight into berry-based products purchasing behaviour and
consumers’ attitude regarding berries in three different countries in Eastern and Western
Europe. The market for berries-based products in Romania and Turkey, compared with the
one in France, is still moderate and restrained by economic factors. Solutions that imply
extending the shelf life of fresh berries, and consequently reducing prices, have potential to
further encourage the consumption of berry-based products, especially in lower income
countries. Nonetheless, the study offers valuable findings regarding the main target of berry-based
products, namely consumers in urban areas, with higher education, higher income and more
health consciousness. Berries are seen as healthy, yet perishable and costly. Solutions that
imply extending the shelf life of fresh berries, and consequently reducing prices have
potential to further encourage the consumption of berries-based products. According to the
results, an important task for the producers will be to increase consumers’ knowledge of
the health benefits of berry based products and how to improve the shelf life of fresh berries
in the market place. Limitations and further research. Due to the time and financial limitations
of this study there are some discrepancies between the countries, on socio-demographic
sample respondents’ aspects. Limitations of the present study comprise of the high level
of education of more than 90% of respondents in all three countries and the small sample
size, making the results not representative at national and European level. Another limitation
is connected to the non-probabilistic sampling and to the online survey method that carries
important selection bias.
5. Acknowledgements
This work was financially supported by the EcoBerries CoreOrganicPlus research
project titled “Innovative and eco-sustainable processing and packaging for safe, high quality
and healthy organic berry products”, for Romania contract number 1ERA-NET/2015.
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ELISABETA ELENA TĂNASE, AMALIA MITELUŢ, CORNELIU SORIN IORGA, CAROLE GUILLAUME,
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