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The purpose of this paper is to explore the use of ambivalence in benefit‐based segmentation of convenience food in Norway.

Building on the attitude‐ambivalence literature and research about food convenience, a hierarchic cluster analysis is performed based on a nation‐wide representative survey of 1,154 Norwegian consumers.

The study's effort to use attitudinal ambivalence as a basis for benefit or attitude segmentation proved to be useful in finding segments with different profiles in the area of convenience food. The results reveal three consumer segments based on evaluation of quality, value, ambivalence and perceived morals towards convenience food: the “Convenient”, the “Ambivalent”, and the “Dissatisfied” consumer. While the Convenient have positive feelings and the Dissatisfied negative feelings toward convenience food, the Ambivalent have mixed feelings and feel guilt when eating ready meals. The ambivalent consumers share beliefs, attitudes, values and behaviour at a position somewhere between the “Convenient” and the “Dissatisfied” on most variables. However, in some areas they are close to the “Dissatisfied”, e.g. on variables such as perceived nutritional value, serving/buying ready meals, time used for making dinner or planning their meals. In a few areas they are closer to the “Convenient”, e.g. appeal to children, consuming, soups and pasta, and age above 60.

Future research on benefit or attitudinal segmentation should consider including a measure of perceived ambivalence associated with the investigated products or services.

The practical implications are addressing a potential for the convenience food industry and subsequently suggesting a positioning strategy to adopt ambivalent consumers.

The paper presents new insights into consumer benefit segmentation and in empirical research on convenience food with a particular focus on ambivalence and moral attitudes.

This study aims to investigate consumers' perceptions and barriers in relation to fresh, frozen, preserved and ready‐meal fish products in a geographically diverse selection of European countries.

Cross‐sectional data were collected through a consumer survey (n=3,213), conducted in June 2008 in the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Sweden and the UK. Items measured were self‐reported consumption frequencies, consumer perceptions of different fish product categories, and perceived barriers for increased fish consumption levels. Country specificities are discussed.

The overriding healthy perception consumers have about fish was confirmed, and contributed very strongly to the general perception consumers have about fish. Fresh fish was perceived the most healthy fish product, followed by frozen, preserved and ready‐meal fish products. Perception scores were highest correlated with self‐reported fish consumption in the Mediterranean countries. With the exception of Romania, perceived barriers only poorly explained self‐reported consumption frequencies of the different fish product categories. This finding is related to the possible influence of habit and tradition with regard to eating fish, to the absence of measures related to motivations or drivers to consume fish, or to the possibility that some of the perceived barriers reinforce each other. In the Mediterranean countries, fish consumption frequency is on a very high level, independently of perceived barriers and motivational aspects, and part of the traditional Mediterranean diet.

The strength of this study pertains to its international scope and geographical spread. Further, consumer perceptions and perceived barriers in relation to fresh, frozen, preserved and ready‐meal fish products have rarely been studied in parallel. Findings are relevant to support efforts on national and international level to stimulate or modify fish consumption, and to explore opportunities to trade fish products.

The purpose of this paper is to develop policy recommendations for creating a healthy food environment around convenience stores which has been recently extending beyond the retail to the food retail and even to the foodservice market in South Korea.

This study was based on case studies of evaluating the nutritional quality of lunch box products sold by the Korean big 3 convenience store brands (CU, GS25 and 7-Eleven) as meal replacements. Samples of all lunch box products sold during October 2016 in Asan city, South Korea were collected for nutritional quality evaluation.

The amount of food items in the “Meats/Fish/Eggs/Legume” food group was 2.4 times the recommended intake, while that in the “Vegetables” food group was even less than one serving size. The most frequent cooking method both for the animal- and plant-based food groups was stir-frying. The average calories fell short of the reference value for men but exceeded it for women. The percentage energy contribution from fats exceeded the reference range. The average amounts of protein, saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium were higher than recommended.

This study calls attention to the necessity and importance of establishing a healthy food environment around convenience stores, given the ever-growing reliance on these establishments as a go-to spot for a convenient meal. The results may also provide useful insights for developing countries in Asia, which are being spotlighted as the emerging markets for convenience stores.

This paper examines the use of consumer‐driven innovation networks within the UK food‐retailing industry using qualitative interview‐based research analysed within an economic framework. This perspective revealed that, by exploiting information gathered directly from their customers at point‐of‐sale and data mining, supermarkets are able to identify consumer preferences and co‐ordinate new product development via innovation networks. This has been made possible through their information control of the supply‐chain established through the use of transparent inventory management systems. As a result, supermarkets’ e‐business systems have established new competitive processes in the UK food‐processing and retailing industry and are an example of consumer‐driven innovation networks. The informant‐based qualitative approach also revealed that trust‐based transacting relationships operated differently from those previously described in the literature.

This study aims to examine gender differences in consumption frequency, perception of health value and enjoyment associated with two categories of convenience foods – snacks, and ready meals and side dishes – among university students in French and English Canada, the United States and France.

In total, 376 women and 324 men replied to a self‐administered questionnaire that included general questions on attitude toward health and specific questions on consumption frequency, perception of health value and enjoyment attributed to products in both categories.

Variance analysis brought to light differences in gender within each regional group. Overall, perceived health value of ready meals and side dishes, while slightly negative, is less negative than for snacks, whereas greater enjoyment is attributed to snacks. For all regions combined, men attribute a less negative health value to snacks and ready meals and side dishes than women do, and derive more enjoyment than women from ready meals and side dishes, whereas women enjoy snacks more than men do.

This study clarifies the specific food habits of young people aged 18 to 25 regarding convenience foods, a rapidly growing category that could aggravate the trend toward obesity.

The purpose of this paper is to explore factors associated with body weight gain among British university students who were members of a slimming club.

Student members of a national commercial slimming programme completed an online survey about cooking ability, weight gain, eating habits and physical activity levels. Non-parametric statistical tests and regression analysis were employed to examine factors associated with weight gain.

The data set comprised 272 current students. The majority of students (67 per cent) reported weight gain between 3.2 and 12.7 kg during studying in university: 20.4 per cent reported to have gained >12.7 kg. Students commonly attributed their weight gain to academic stress and nearly all identified with needing support to learn to cook on a budget. Students reporting greatest weight gain had most frequent consumption of ready meals & convenience foods, take-away & fast foods and least frequent consumption of fruits & vegetables. Weight-stable students reported lowest consumption of alcohol and were most able to cook complex meals. Students who reported greatest weight gain reported lower physical activity levels. There were inter-correlations between cooking ability and lifestyle factors. In a multivariate model, low physical activity and frequent consumption of ready meals and convenience food independently predicted weight gain.

Weight gain was inversely associated with diet quality, cooking ability and physical activity with reliance on ready meals & convenience food and low physical activity particularly important. Prospective studies are needed to confirm these cross-sectional associations and to explore how the university setting may contribute to the effect.

The study adds additional perspective to understanding student weight gain at university in that it focuses on a body weight-conscious sub-group of the student population, as opposed to the general population of students.

Coeliac disease (CD) is a life-long condition requiring strict adherence to a gluten-free (GF) diet. Due to wide claims of availability and lower costs of gluten-free food (GFF) and clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in England needing to save costs, access to prescriptions for patients with CD is being limited in England. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the availability and cost of GFF in an area where patients with CD have restricted access to prescriptions and to assess the nutritional composition of GFFs available in comparison with foods containing gluten (FCG).

Eight food categories that were representative of a range of commonly purchased GFFs were selected. Availability and cost of the cheapest and most expensive branded and non-branded GFFs and gluten containing equivalents were surveyed at physical stores (n=19) and online stores (n=8). The nutritional composition of some of the widely available GFFs identified (n=190) and comparable FCGs (n=218) were calculated using MyFitnessPal.

None of the budget stores or corner shops surveyed stocked any of the surveyed cereal-based GFFs. Online stores had more availability than physical stores; however, there was no significant difference in cost. GFFs cost, on average, 2.18 times more than FCG. When making nutritional comparisons with gluten-containing food, protein content was lower across 55 per cent of GFF categories. There was significantly less sugar in GF brown bread, crackers, and wholegrain pasta compared with those containing gluten (CG). Another main finding was GF ready-meals contained significantly less salt than ready-meals CG.

Limited resources and perceived wide availability of GF products resulted in reduced GF prescriptions to patients in England. The findings in this study revealed that there is no availability of cereal-based GFFs in budget stores, high cost and limited access to prescriptions can influence adherence to a GF diet and is most likely to affect patients from deprived groups. This study recommends that the prescription of GFF to patients with CD should be continued.

This paper aims to explore the linked series of changes connecting unpaid and paid labour in the household economy and the market sector, which may be associated with the implementation of new technologies of production and the proliferation of new consumer products.

One historical and one contemporary example, mass production during the inter‐war period, and ready‐made meals today, are used as exemplary cases for probing changes in women's labour.

New technologies of home and work alter the relationships between work not only across the processes of production, distribution, exchange and consumption, but also across the boundaries between paid and unpaid labour and between market and non‐market work.

The conceptual schema of the “total social organisation of labour” is used to focus on dynamic interdependence and interaction across and between work undertaken in different socio‐economic modes.

In 2012, the European food industry was hit by a food fraud: horsemeat was found in pre-prepared foods, without any declaration on the package. This is commonly referred to as the “horsemeat scandal”. The purpose of this paper is to investigate consumers’ preferences across Europe for a selected ready meal, ready to heat (RTH) fresh lasagne, to consider whether the effects of potential food frauds on consumers’ choices can be mitigated by introducing enhanced standards of RTH products.

An online survey was administered to 4,598 consumers of RTH lasagne in six European countries (Republic of Ireland, France, Italy, Spain, Germany and Norway), applying discrete choice experiments to estimate consumers’ willingness to pay for enhanced food safety standards and highlight differences between countries.

Many similarities across countries emerged, as well as some differences. Consumers in Europe are highly concerned with the authenticity of the meat in ready meals and strongly prefer to know that ingredients are nationally sourced. Strong regional differences in price premiums exist for enhanced food safety standards.

This research adds relevant insights in the analysis of consumers’ reaction to food fraud, providing practical guidelines on the most appropriate practices that producers should adopt and on the information to reduce food risk perception among consumers. This would prove beneficial for the food processing industry and the European Union. The survey is based on a representative sample of European consumers making this the largest cross-country study of this kind.