Household food wastage in Montenegro: exploring consumer food behaviour and attitude under COVID-19 pandemic circumstances

Purpose The purpose of the research was to determine food consumer behaviour and attitudes towards food consumption and household food waste in Montenegro. Since the period of conducting the research coincided with the expansion of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic in Montenegro (10-14 weeks since its outbreak), the results of this research could indicate the emerging pandemic circumstances. Design/methodology/approach A total of 529 consumers were surveyed online, and 514 questionnaires met the requirements of further statistical processing. Data were processed by methods of descriptive statistics and chi-square test of association between socio-economic characteristics of respondents and their attitudes, as well as cluster analysis. Findings The main findings of the research are (1) consumers in Montenegro are quite responsible for the use of food because they throw away a small part, both in quantity and value;(2) Montenegrin households still practice a traditional way of life with frequent preparation and consumption of food at home and use of leftovers;(3) consumers have confusing perceptions regarding date labels of industrially processed foods;(4) during the COVID-19 pandemic, 17.3% of consumers increased and 11.8% decreased the frequency of food purchases, while 20.7% increased and 5.1% decreased food waste. Originality/value The work is highly original and, to the best of the authors' knowledge, there is no other article that analysed the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on food wastage and food-related behaviours during the outbreak of the pandemic in Montenegro (May-June 2020). Therefore, the work fills a gap in research and knowledge and sets a baseline for future studies.

Food shopping during the COVID-19 pandemic: an exploratory study in four Near Eastern countries

Purpose: During a pandemic, risk and uncertainty are the most important factors affecting consumer behavior. Near Eastern marketplaces are undergoing dramatic change during the COVID-19 global pandemic. As a result, this paper aims to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on food shopping habits in four countries of the Near East sub-region, namely, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Oman and Qatar. Design/methodology/approach: The research is based on an online survey conducted on 1,456 subjects using a snowball sampling technique. The questionnaire consisted of 24 different questions (multiple-choice, one option) regarding the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on food habits such as food shopping, preparation, eating and food waste. Findings: The findings show that consumers’ shopping habits and food sourcing in the region changed due to the risk and uncertainty connected with the COVID-19 pandemic. Firstly, respondents decreased their shopping frequency and, as a result, increased the amount of food purchased each trip. Secondly, because of food safety concerns, respondents boosted their purchases of local products. Thirdly, the data revealed an increase in online food shopping, mainly in high-income countries, namely, Qatar and Oman. Fourthly, the findings revealed significant disparities in food stockpiling behavior across the countries investigated. Research limitations/implications: The major limitation of this study is the survey bias. The survey respondents were randomly hired. The questionnaire was completed by volunteers who were not rewarded. Only those motivated by a personal interest in the topic took part in the study. The sample had a high number of educated individuals, which does not represent the overall populations of the studied countries. In this case, generalizing the findings is inaccurate. A segment of the population with lower accessibility, such as individuals who are not web-literate, as well as the elderly, poor households and informal workers, especially in the Near East and North African (NENA) region, is often underrepresented in online surveys. Practical implications: The findings provide insight into how consumers’ food shopping habits have changed due to the pandemic. This and other research will help governments and other organizations better prepare for future disasters and pandemics. The study’s results will also be useful in formulating evidence-based policies for the four countries studied and the NENA area as a whole throughout the post-pandemic recovery phase. The findings, for example, emphasized the necessity of encouraging online shopping by upgrading information and communication technology infrastructure and internet speed, particularly in middle-income and developing countries like Lebanon. Furthermore, in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, the findings provide insights to international organizations (both humanitarian and development ones) to pay more attention to issues of food and nutrition security to avoid the financial and political crises combined with the COVID-19 health crisis, become a humanitarian crisis for locals as well as the hundreds of thousands of refugees (primarily Syrians in Lebanon). Finally, the pandemic’s long-term impact on food activities and food security must be mitigated by including agricultural and food systems in recovery efforts. Several issues are posing a threat to food systems. Addressing them successfully involves developing cross-disciplinary research that innovates at their intersections to provide different solutions that address the social, economic, technological and policy components of these issues. Originality/value: The paper’s findings indicate that the pandemic’s consequences will most certainly differ from country to country, based not just on the epidemiologic condition but also, inter alia, on the level of pre-COVID socioeconomic development. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Mediterranean diet in the Western Balkans

The Mediterranean diet is considered an example of sustainable diets and an intangible cultural heritage of the whole humanity. However, attention to the Mediterranean diet changes from a country to another even within the Euro-Mediterranean region. In this context, this paper analyses the state of research on the Mediterranean diet in the Western Balkans (viz. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia). In particular, it explores whether and how environmental, economic, sociocultural, and nutrition-health aspects related to the sustainability of the Mediterranean diet are addressed. A search performed in June 2021 on the Web of Science returned 68 documents, and 41 of them were included in the systematic review. Most of the selected documents deal with Croatia, especially island regions, and focus on health-nutrition aspects while other sustainability dimensions are generally overlooked. The scholarly literature shows that higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet is associated with reduced risk of obesity, different non-communicable diseases (e.g. diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancers, metabolic syndrome) as well as mental illnesses. However, it also highlights a decrease in the Mediterranean diet adherence even in Mediterranean/Adriatic territories. Interestingly, some recent studies showed a shift towards the Mediterranean diet during the COVID-19 lockdown even among adolescents. The analysis suggests the need to adopt a holistic approach in studies on the Mediterranean diet to better understand the relationships between the sustainability dimensions and operationalize its contribution to the transformation of food systems and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in the Mediterranean region.

Food attitudes and consumer behavior towards food in conflict-affected zones during the COVID-19 pandemic: case of the Palestinian territories

Purpose: Global lockdowns and restrictions linked to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic have affected food environments and consumption patterns. Conflict-affected countries are disproportionately affected from economic and food security perspectives. In this regard, the Palestinian territories (namely West Bank and Gaza Strip), which face a number of issues such as Israeli military and economic control, overcrowded cities and refugee camps (especially in Gaza Strip), rising poverty and food insecurity, are an especially interesting case study. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on the selection and intake of foods and drinks, as well as consumer behavior and attitude toward food in the Palestinian territories. Design/methodology/approach: The paper draws upon an online survey in the Palestinian territories administered in Arabic through the Survey Monkey platform from September 15 to October 10, 2020, with 322 adults. The survey findings were analyzed using descriptive statistics and several nonparametric tests. Particularly, the U-Mann Whitney test was used in dichotomous, categorical independent variables (e.g. gender), while the Kruskal–Wallis test was run to analyze multi-choice responses (e.g. occupation). Findings: The results reveal that food attitudes and consumer behavior towards food have been widely affected. First, they reveal that Palestinians try to have healthier diets but ate more between meals (e.g. snacks). Second, the pandemic transformed respondents' shopping behavior and induced panic buying, negatively affecting food affordability due to increased prices of some foods (e.g. fruits and vegetables). Some food behaviors were shaped by negative psychological determinants (e.g. depression and anxiety). The pandemic effects are moderated by different sociodemographics (age, education and income). COVID-19 negatively affected food security but also opened a “window of opportunity” to trigger the transition towards more sustainable diets. Originality/value: The paper results show that the eventual effects of COVID-19 will most likely vary from country to country, based not only on the epidemiological circumstances but also, among other factors, on the baseline socioeconomic situation and shock resilience. The findings contribute to the clarification and critical analysis of the impacts of COVID-19 on food behaviors in the Palestinian territories, which would have several policy implications. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Food shopping, preparation and consumption practices in times of COVID-19: case of Lebanon

Purpose: Right after announcing the first cases, several governments worldwide have implemented stringent measures to stop the spread of COVID-19. This disruption in individuals' daily routines transformed food consumption habits. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on food consumption, diet and food shopping behaviors in Lebanon. Design/methodology/approach: The paper draws upon an online survey in Lebanon administered in Arabic and English through the Survey Monkey platform in the period of July 15—August 5, 2020, with 201 adults. The survey findings were analyzed using descriptive statistics, a paired sample t-test and a Phi correlation test. Findings: The research underlined numerous key consumer tendencies that are currently affecting diet and food behavior in Lebanon. Indeed, the study outcomes suggested (1) a move toward healthier diets;(2) a rise in the consumption of domestic products due to food safety concerns;(3) a change in the grocery shopping behaviors (with a rise in online shopping);(4) a surge of food stockpiling;and (5) a decrease in household food wastage. Surprisingly, COVID-19 seems to generate several positive changes toward more sustainable and healthier consumption patterns in Lebanon. Research limitations/implications: These findings contribute to the clarification and critical analysis of the impacts of COVID-19 on food behaviors in Lebanon, which would have several policy implications. Originality/value: The findings of this first study contribute to the clarification and critical analysis of the impacts of COVID-19 on food behaviors in Lebanon, which would have several policy implications. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Impacts of COVID-19 on food security and food system sustainability

The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a heavy toll on the population and economies. It also undermined food security and food system sustainability. In this context, this review paper analyses the outbreak impacts on the different dimensions of food security (viz. availability, access, utilisation, stability) and food system sustainability (viz. environmental, economic, social), and explores possible solutions to mitigate its negative consequences. The pandemic has affected food security both directly, leading to a decrease in food production and availability, and indirectly, as lockdown, social distancing, movement restrictions and other containment measures taken by local and national governments have undermined people's ability, especially the most vulnerable, to access food (cf. food prices) and to have a healthy and diverse diet (cf. food utilisation). The impacts of COVID-19 on the stability dimension of food security will depend on the duration of the emergency. Furthermore, the outbreak had severe consequences on the overall sustainability of the food systems (cf. production, processing, distribution, consumption);disruptions of food systems caused by COVID-19 affect not only the food system functioning but also its performance and sustainability. However, food-related impacts of the pandemic vary not only from a country to another - depending, among others, on the epidemiological situation - but also among socio-economic groups. Indeed, it seems that COVID-19 is particularly affecting developing countries, whose food systems were already under strain, and poor and vulnerable households, which already suffered from food insecurity and malnutrition. Of particular concern are the impacts on children, women and indigenous communities. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the unsustainability of the current food systems. Therefore, recovery plans should include actions to foster transition towards a sustainable and resilient food system. Only a sustainable system could withstand severe shocks such as COVID-19 and ensure food security under similar stressful conditions.

The two-way relationship between food systems and the COVID19 pandemic: causes and consequences

CONTEXT: The COVID-19 pandemic has become one of the most pressing challenges for humanity. The pandemic is affecting all aspects of human lives and livelihoods, including food. In this context, new research shows the nexus between agri-food systems and the spread of emergent infectious diseases (EID) such as the coronavirus disease while at the same time, shows how the COVID-19 pandemics has heavily impacted food systems. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this work is to shed light and draw, through the case of COVID-19, the network of direct and indirect links and feedback loops between the globalised food system and pandemics. METHODS: We conducted a literature review. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: As with climate change, food systems have a double relation with EID in general, and in particular with the present world health crisis linked to COVID-19. On the one hand, global agri-food systems, as currently organised, are a necessary step in the development of EID, through their impacts in land use changes, habitat fragmentation, biodiversity loss and climate change. On the other hand, COVID-19 has had and is having impacts on all food systems at all scales. The review shows that all activities of the food system (from production to consumption) as well as all pillars of food security (availability, access, use, stability) have been affected. The impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on food systems can be divided between direct impacts of the virus outbreak, and indirect impacts derived from the containment measures (e.g. lockdowns, mobility restrictions, shops closure) adopted at different levels (from local to global). While all food systems across the globe have been affected by the pandemic, it is argued that vulnerability is different for different types of food systems. Long food supply chains have been particularly affected by COVID-19 crisis, however, it is important to avoid universalization of impacts and responses as agri-food systems are characterised by a huge diversity and heterogeneity. The review concludes by pointing out that while the pandemic represents a challenge for the global food systems, this ‘stress test’ can be also seized as an opportunity to highlight vulnerabilities to be urgently addressed during the recovery period and speed up the transformation towards more sustainable and resilient food systems. SIGNIFICANCE: A food systems approach is essential to have a broader picture of the relationship of agri-food systems with zoonosis and their centrality in the pandemics and the derived socio-economic consequences. © 2021 Elsevier Ltd