Week 11 : The Meaning of food Pt 2

Question 1

Even a small variant in gene, such as the difference in 1 paur of nucleotide bases can result in very different phenotypical characteristics. True or False?

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Food is just a means of sustenance for humans. True or False?

Answer 2

False, it is also a marker for national, social and cultural identity.

Question 3

There are individual differences among people, which may cause some people to reject some foods. What are these 3 differences?

Answer 3

1. Neophobia
2. Disgust sensitivity
3. Cultural factors

Question 4

What are the 2 kinds of neophobia and explain what they are.

Answer 4

Food neophobia : people reject unfamiliar foods

Food technology neophobia : people are less willing to accept new food technologies

Question 5

What is disgust sensitivity?

Answer 5

People experience feelings of disgust when food has some cues that might be considered indications of pathogen presence or contamination

Question 6

People make food decisions mainly on a heuristic process and not on elaborate information processing. What does heuristics mean?

Answer 6

Heuristics are mental shortcuts that enable people to make fast decisions.

In food decisions, this can be based on “gut feeling” and not logical reasoning and analysis of scientific facts and knowledge of the food.

• e.g. people eat what they feel like eating, not because they go and calculate the calories and think about all the health impacts that a food can cause them

Question 7

What are the 3 different kinds of heuristics do people use to make food decisions?

Answer 7

1. Affect
2. Trust
3. Naturalness

Question 8

What are affect heuristics?

Answer 8

People rely on the feelings they associate an item to, in order to make decisions

• e.g. When GMO Goods are mentioned, some people associate it with Frankenstein Food –> negative feeling but some people associate GMO foods like golden rice with health benefits (has beta carotene, precursor to vitamin A)

Question 9

What are trust heuristics?

Answer 9

When people rely on trust to evaluate an item : they substitute a target attribute with cues that indicate trust in this source of information (i.e. they dont evaluate the specific qualities of food they are evaluating but try to look for signs that indicate trust, e.g. very reputable brands etc)

Question 10

What 2 categories can trust be divided into?

Answer 10

1. Social trust : people tend to trust institutions with similar values as theirs
2. Confidence : based on past experiences or perceived competencies

• NOTE : someone may have confidence in food industry’s competencies to produce safe foods but they also may lack social trust in food industry as they believes it values profits than customer’s health

Question 11

What is naturalness heuristics?

Answer 11

Natural foods (minimally processed) is always perceived as better

Question 12

Since preference of natural foods is mainly driven by health reasons, is it possible to influence preferences towards less natural foods (e.g. fortified, ultra processed milk, aka functional food)?

Answer 12

Yes, can be done through emphasizing health claims and benefits on product packaging.

Question 13

When risks are compared side by side, or natural or man-made risks of less concern?

Answer 13

Natural risks

e.g. even though irradiation can reduce risk of food poisoning in food, consumers generally have less concerns on the hazards of foodborne microbes than concerns on the effects of irradiation on foods (e.g. chemicals/perceived radioactivity generated)

Question 14

Not a question

Willingness to consume cell cultured meat varies with time, place (country) and the terms used in the question used to describe the food product (framing)

Answer 14

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