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Lack of acceptance of insects as food is considered a barrier against societal adoption of the potentially valuable contribution of insects to human foods. An underlying barrier may be that insects are lumped together as one group, while consumers typically try specific insects. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the ways in which Dutch consumers, with and without insect tasting experience, are more or less willing to eat different insects.

In a quasi-experimental study (n=140), the participants with and without prior experience in eating insects were asked to give their willingness to eat a range of insects, and their attitudes and disgust towards eating insects.

Insects promoted in the market were more preferred than the less marketed insects, and a subgroup of preferred insects for participants with experience in eating insects was formed.

Although well-known insects were more preferred, general willingness to eat remained low for all participants. The results indicate that in future research on insects as food the specific insects used should be taken into account.

Continued promotion of specific, carefully targeted, insects may not lead to short-term uptake of insects as food, but may contribute to willingness to eat insects as human food in the long term.

The paper shows substantial differences between consumers who have and who have not previously tasted insects, with higher acceptance of people with experience in tasting insects for the specific insects that are frequently promoted beyond their generally more positive attitude towards eating insects.

The purpose of this paper is to explore consumers’ health perception and demonstrate its relevance in product and process design in early stages of new product development.

A dried mango was used as a case study involving three countries: Indonesia, China and the Netherlands. Data were collected from nine focus groups (n=53 participants) and were content-analysed to acquire in-depth insights.

Four themes of health perception emerged, namely, nutrition, naturalness, taste and well-being, which were all expressed on different levels of abstractness. Participants’ health perception of dried mango varied, it is related to the product category it is compared with, e.g. candy or fresh fruit, and the eating context, e.g. position in the diet either as a snack or a meal. In extension participants mentioned product and process characteristics. Application of the insights into product and process design was performed through iterative interactions between consumer scientists and food technologists. The development of two product concepts was elaborated to transform the insights into technical product and process specifications for a natural dried mango product.

This transformation suggests that iterative interactions are necessary to achieve relevant product and process characteristics in the simultaneous design of the technical product and process specifications based on consumer perceptions.

Adolescence is a period in which autonomy grows and where children develop into independent and active consumers and a period in which their food choices are also becoming more autonomous. Snacking is known to increase during the period of adolescence and the snack choice of adolescents is often unhealthy. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to know when adolescents perceive a snack as healthy. As healthiness perception could be linked to the perception of naturalness and sustainability of a snack, these are interesting product characteristics to study as well.

Semi-structured interviews with 20 adolescents were conducted to characterize their perception of healthiness, naturalness and sustainability. Chocolate snack bars were used as a stimulus product.

All participants mentioned consuming snacks because they like them. Healthiness was seen as important but was not always a priority in adolescents' snack choices. Naturalness and sustainability were concepts which the adolescents were not aware of or did not perceive as important during snack choice. The adolescents mentioned experiencing natural products to be healthier compared to not natural products. The consequences of the discerned dimensions time, impact and effect of choices were rather limited for this target group.

Understanding the healthiness, naturalness and sustainability perception of chocolate snack bars by adolescents may help to better understand drivers for adolescents' snack choices.

This study aims to explore the effect of different volumes of indoor greenery on perceived stress, stress, perceived productivity, productivity and perceived workplace satisfaction to support employees’ well-being.

In a cross-over experimental design, a homogeneous group of students was randomised in different orders where each participant experienced the same three conditions. Different volumes of indoor greenery were added to the experiment room (0%, 0.5% and 8%). With a Fitbit, sudoku and a questionnaire, the five variables were measured.

Findings show that perceived stress and heart rate (physical stress) are lower in the 8% condition. Productivity scores did not improve significantly, however perceived productivity did in the 8% condition. Positive trends could be seen for the variables in the 0.5% condition. Furthermore, 2/3 of the participants preferred the 8% condition, whereas the other 1/3 preferred the 0.5% condition. Overall, 1/3 of the participants mentioned that their optimal volume of greenery would be more than 0.5% but less than 8%. This research shows that the implementation of 8% indoor greenery contributes to a happier and more relaxing office place where employees get the feeling of being less stressed and more productive.

This research found that the largest volume of plants used (8%) has the most positive effect on the variables studied in this research. This study shows that participants’ heart rate, and therefore physical stress, became lower in the 8% condition. In this 8% condition, participants experienced less stress and perceived themselves to be more productive. Besides, 2/3 of the participants preferred being in the 8% condition, suggesting that after adding this volume of indoor greenery employees will be more satisfied with their workplace.

Where previous research discovered that indoor greenery has a positive effect on variables like (perceived) stress, (perceived) productivity and perceived workplace satisfaction, this research also provides support for the effect of different volumes of indoor greenery. Results obtained by the spatial coverage ratio approach can be easily applied to future research and practice.

Indoor greenery can contribute to making the office a happier and more relaxing place where employees get the feeling of being less stressed and more productive which in the long term might contribute to the overall well-being of employees.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study focusing on the effect of different volumes of indoor greenery on these five variables.

Domestic preparation practices influence the sensory properties and nutritional composition of food products. Information on the variability in actual domestic preparation practices is needed to assess the influence of applied conditions on the sensory and nutritional quality of food. The collection of such information requires a reliable, valid and practical research method. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Direct in-home observations, observations in a model-kitchen using cameras, and a self-reporting questionnaire were evaluated for reliability and validity, to study domestic food preparation practices by consumers. Broccoli preparation practices by Dutch consumers were checked by these three methods in this research paper.

All three research methods were found to be test-retest, inter-observer, parallel-form reliable; and face, content and concurrent valid. However, the self-reporting questionnaire is the most practical research method that can be administered on a large number of respondents in a short time to capture the wide variations in preparation practices.

Consumers can be assisted on domestic food preparation practices that reach their sensory preferences (e.g. texture, colour) as well as have health benefits on consumption.

The purpose of this paper is to gain insight into the ways consumers freeze and defrost meat, the reasons for their behaviour and the knowledge they have about the process of freezing and defrosting. Consumers are aware of the microbiological safety risks involved in the consumption of meat. Therefore, many consumers freeze fresh meat to be able to store it safely for a longer period of time. In order to keep the quality of the meat, the freezing and defrosting process should follow certain basic principles.

In this explorative paper, oral interviews were held with families with young children about their habits concerning the freezing and defrosting of meat. Their knowledge about these processes and the related principles was assessed with help of multiple‐choice questions.

The paper finds that differences exist between knowledge and actual behaviour, which might result in a shortfall in the microbiological safety of the consumed meat.

Actual behaviour when freezing and defrosting was not observed in the paper, but asked for in an interview. In a larger study observations might be a useful research method to be added.

The paper shows that a discrepancy exists between knowledge and actual behaviour. It is concluded that the actual behaviour might lead to microbiological risks. This could be studied in a supplemental research.

This paper reveals that consumer education about food storage and food handling is recommended.