Health and environmental consciousness: Greek consumers' attitudes toward the organic, HACCP and ISO14000 certifications on food

Abstract

A serious diversification of Greek consumers' food buying behavior can be observed during the last decade. Following similar trends worldwide, an important percentage of Greek consumers have been oriented to quality food products of higher added value. This value is delivered through the implementation of various certification strategies and the use of different communication messages. A study of the procedure through which Greek consumers evaluate a variety of quality certification schemes is, hence, necessary and valuable. In the present survey, a stratified sample of urban consumers is used with the objective to analyze their attitudes toward the organic label and the HACCP and ISO14000 certification schemes separately. The study evolves around the assumption that purchasing of organic, HACCP or ISO14000-certified food products expresses consumers' health and environmental consciousness and reflects the food industry's ethical concern. © 2003 by flie Haworth Press, Inc. All right reserved.