DETERMINANTS OF CONSUMER CHOICE FOR MOZZARELLA CHEESE

This study aims to assess determinants of consumer demand for mozzarella cheese. Eighty-two consumers recruited in Potenza (Italy) received a questionnaire consisting of two sections: the first part concerned socio-demographic characteristics and consumers’ habits; the second section aimed at attaining specific information about the consumption of pasta filata products (e.g. frequency of purchase and consumption and place of purchase). In this section consumers also had to express their beliefs about items affecting purchasing and consuming pasta filata products (e.g. appearance, colour, ethical aspects, brand name, geographic origin, etc.) using a 7-point scale: from 1 (unimportant) to 7 (very important). Consumers participating to the questionnaires were equally distributed for gender, mostly comprised in a range of 20 - 30 years of age (57%), they were partially involved in purchasing food and meal preparation and 63% had a university degree. Most of the respondents preferred a 150 g round size to 50 g and 20 g round sizes and 70 g braided size. They largely purchased these products at supermarkets. In order to identify the different items affecting purchasing and consumption of pasta filata products, the value of least significance difference (LSD) was calculated (significance level set at 95%). Thus variables were grouped into four significantly different groups (Table 1): the first group showing the highest consumers’ scores included taste/flavour, raw material origin, absence of preservatives, and texture, thus confirming the fundamental role played by sensory and safety dimensions in affecting consumer choices. In the second group, animal welfare was a central aspect affecting consumer decision and indicating their ethical involvement. In this group were also listed healthiness, colour, production area and nutritional characteristics. In the third cluster items related to appearance, dietetic features, ethical aspects (e.g. sustainability of the production chain), rearing system, animal diet and the place of purchase were all grouped. Conversely, packaging and brand were the least important for this sample of consumers. These results may help producers identifying the most important characteristics of mozzarella affecting consumer choice.