PERCEIVED SAFETY OF NATURAL FOOD PRODUCTS: INFLUENCE OF DIFFERENT PACKAGING CUES

The objective of this study was to understand how different packaging cues influence consumer perceptions of natural food safety. Four cues that producers use within their marketing efforts to suggest higher food safety to consumers were identified: a well-known brand, an organic label, the domestic origin of the product, and a packaging design that suggests naturalness. Using an experimental research design, five groups of subjects evaluated five different stimuli: one stimulus for each safety cue and one stimulus without a safety cue. Each group of subjects rated three categories of natural products: honey, olive oil and tomatoes. The results show that products without a safety cue are considered significantly less safe than products with any of the observed safety cues. At the same time, there is almost no difference in perceived safety among different safety cues. The results contribute to research on packaging as a communication channel and to research on perceptions of food safety. The results have important implications for small producers who adhere to safety standards and produce natural products, as they indicate that signalling naturalness makes it possible to compete with strong brands when it comes to perception of safety, but also for regulatory bodies as they point out the importance of systematic quality control.