In recent years, consumers have become increasingly interested not just in price and quality but in where and how food is produced. However, these changes to consumer attitudes have highlighted a considerable gap between intention and actual purchasing behaviour, particularly where ethical and environmental issues are concerned.

Consumers and food: Understanding and shaping consumer behaviour reviews what we know about changing food purchasing behaviours so that farmers, food manufacturers, retailers and policymakers can better meet and influence customer needs and expectations. The book reviews existing models of customer behaviour such as dual process and neuroscience approaches.

The book also considers contemporary issues such as regional and cultural influences on consumer purchasing behaviour, as well as how consumers assess attributes such as food origins and sustainability.

Part 1 Understanding consumer attitudes and patterns of behaviour

• 1.Using duality models to understand how consumers process information about food and nutrition: Steffen Jahn, Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany; and Yasemin Boztuğ, Georg-August University Göttingen, Germany;
• 2.Neuropsychology of consumer food choice: Gordon R. Foxall, Cardiff University, UK and Reykjavik University, Iceland; Oscar Robayo-Pinzon, Universidad del Rosario, Colombia; and Sandra Rojas-Berrio, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Colombia;
• 3.Geographical patterns of food-purchasing behaviour: the example of sub-Saharan Africa: John Kuada, African Business Education & Research, Denmark;
• 4.Sustainable food consumption attitudes and behavior: generational cohort differences: Irene (Eirini) Kamenidou, International Hellenic University, Greece; and George Menexes and Stergios Gkitsas, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece;
• 5.Behavioural change towards sustainable food consumption: Réka Rozsnyói and Getachew Abate Kassa, Technical University of Munich, Germany;

Part 2 Product attributes

• 6.Understanding consumer perceptions and attitudes towards nutrition labels and health claims in food: Joe Bogue and Lana Repar, University College Cork, Ireland;
• 7.Trends in consumer preference for locally sourced food products: Matthew Gorton and Barbara Tocco, Newcastle University, UK; Péter Csillag, Eco-Sensus Research and Communication Non-profit Ltd., Hungary; Jelena Filipović, University of Belgrade, Serbia; and John White, University of Plymouth, UK;
• 8.The effects of consumer perception of food safety and quality in food purchase decisions: Anne Wilcock, University of Guelph, Canada; Kathryn Boys, North Carolina State University, USA; and Brita Ball, University of Guelph, Canada;
• 9.Understanding consumer attitudes to organic food: using profile deviation analysis for consumer benchmarking: Tatiana Anisimova, Linnaeus University, Sweden; and Felix T. Mavondo, Monash University, Australia;
• 10.Understanding consumer attitudes to environmental sustainability issues in agricultural and food production: Caroline Saunders, Tim Driver and Meike Guenther, Lincoln University, New Zealand;