Organic and eco-sustainable packaged food products: A possible solution to close the gap between consumer perception and real data

Food companies nowadays are investing in the production of organic food, starting from crops and farms based on the use of natural substances and not excessively exploiting natural resources such as soil, water and air. Moreover, they allocate resources looking for environmentally sustainable packaging solutions, often using bio-based or recycled materials. Are consumers aware of these efforts? Taking as a reference the case study of an Italian manufacturer of grated organic cheese, which is looking for new packaging solutions, a questionnaire was created and submitted to a widespread sample of Italian people: 333 questionnaires have been collected from consumers of different age, education and origin, in order to investigate their opinions about organic products and ecosustainability. Results show that consumers make choices based on food product’s quality and price and are unable to distinguish an organic cheese from a traditional one. As far as the packaging solution is concerned, food paper is considered the best material to contain cheese, followed by glass, while plastics are associated with a high environmental impact. Outcomes thus highlight a clear difference between the consumers’ perception of packaging and the scientific data of materials’ functionality and environmental impact calculated by means of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. It is therefore necessary to close this gap improving the exchange of information between consumers and the scientific sector. To achieve this goal, social networks are not the best option since consumers declare not to show interest in following the company profile. They seem, instead, to appreciate nontraditional labelling, such as RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) and QR Code, because they give more information about products features and history, ensuring traceability and anti-counterfeiting. Consequently, the digitization of information supporting the food products appears the main way to differentiate the single brand and provide consumers with information necessary to make the right choices.