Arnout Fischer | Wageningen University (original) (raw)

Papers by Arnout Fischer

Food Quality and Preference

Cultured meat is a potentially successful future alternative to conventional meat if consumers pe... more Cultured meat is a potentially successful future alternative to conventional meat if consumers perceive it as similar enough to conventional meat. This paper aimed to investigate how consumers categorize cultured meat after receiving information about it being similar to meat or meat substitutes. The first study (N = 130) showed that similarity information between cultured meat and meat resulted in the categorization of cultured meat as meat. This effect was not found for similarity information between cultured meat and meat substitutes. The second study (N = 200) ruled out that the name cultured meat influenced categorization. In contrast with study 1 similarity information between cultured meat and meat did not result in categorization, where similarity information between cultured meat and meat substitutes did. The third study (N = 152) suggested cultured meat was categorized as meat substitute, however, no evidence was found that providing similarity information between cultured meat and meat or meat substitutes influenced either categorization. Subsequent interviews within study 3 (N = 10) suggested that cultured meat overlaps substantially with the categories meat and meat substitutes and suggested that participants had difficulty to consistently categorize cultured meat. This may explain the apparently inconsistent results. The findings of this paper thus suggest that cultured meat does not effortlessly fit into the meat or meat substitute category.

EFSA Supporting Publications

Public health genomics, 2017

Personalised nutrition has potential to revolutionise dietary health promotion if accepted by the... more Personalised nutrition has potential to revolutionise dietary health promotion if accepted by the general public. We studied trust and preferences regarding personalised nutrition services, how they influence intention to adopt these services, and cultural and social differences therein. A total of 9,381 participants were quota-sampled to be representative of each of 9 EU countries (Germany, Greece, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, the UK, and Norway) and surveyed by a questionnaire assessing their intention to adopt personalised nutrition, trust in service regulators and information sources, and preferences for service providers and information channels. Trust and preferences significantly predicted intention to adopt personalised nutrition. Higher trust in the local department of health care was associated with lower intention to adopt personalised nutrition. General practitioners were the most trusted of service regulators, except in Portugal, where consumer org...

The European Journal of Public Health, 2016

Background: Personalised nutrition (PN) may promote public health. PN involves dietary advice bas... more Background: Personalised nutrition (PN) may promote public health. PN involves dietary advice based on individual characteristics of end users and can for example be based on lifestyle, blood and/or DNA profiling. Currently PN is not refunded by most health insurance or health care plans. Improved public health is contingent on individual consumers being willing to pay for the service. Methods: A survey with a representative sample from the general population was conducted in eight European countries (N=8233). Participants reported their willingness to pay (WTP) for PN based on lifestyle information, lifestyle and blood information, and lifestyle and DNA information. WTP was elicited by contingent valuation with the price of a standard, non-personalised nutrition advice used as reference. Results: About 30% of participants reported being willing to pay more for personalised nutrition than for non-personalised nutrition advice. They were on average prepared to pay about 150% of the reference price of a standard, non-personalised advice, with some differences related to socio-demographic factors. Conclusion: There is a potential market for PN compared to non-PN advice, particularly among men on higher incomes. These findings raise questions to what extent personalized nutrition can be left to the market or should be incorporated into public health programs.

PloS one, 2015

At large attitudes are built on earlier experience with the attitude object. If earlier experienc... more At large attitudes are built on earlier experience with the attitude object. If earlier experiences are not available, as is the case for unfamiliar attitude objects such as new technologies, no stored evaluations exist. Yet, people are still somehow able to construct attitudes on the spot. Depending on the familiarity of the attitude object, attitudes may find their basis more in affect or cognition. The current paper investigates differences in reliance on affect or cognition in attitude formation toward familiar and unfamiliar realistic attitude objects. In addition, individual differences in reliance on affect (high faith in intuition) or cognition (high need for cognition) are taken into account. In an experimental survey among Dutch consumers (N = 1870), we show that, for unfamiliar realistic attitude objects, people rely more on affect than cognition. For familiar attitude objects where both affective and cognitive evaluations are available, high need for cognition leads to m...

Food Quality and Preference, 2015

This analysis has been conducted to explore the validity and reliability of the Food Choice Quest... more This analysis has been conducted to explore the validity and reliability of the Food Choice Questionnaire (FCQ) across 9 European countries. Variation in the factor structure and the perceived importance of food choice motives have been compared cross-nationally. Volunteers (N=9381) were recruited from an existing panel of a social research agency to take part in the Food4Me survey in Germany,

This report forms part of the deliverables from a project called "FoodMicroSystems" whi... more This report forms part of the deliverables from a project called "FoodMicroSystems" which has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007-2013 under grant agreement n° 287634. The Community is not responsible for any use that might be made of the content of this publication. FoodMicroSystems aims at initiating the implementation of microsystems & smart miniaturised systems in the food sector by improving cooperation between suppliers and users of microsystems for food/beverage quality and safety. The project runs from September 2011 to August 2013, it involves nine partners and is coordinated by ACTIA (Association de Coordination Technique pour l'Industrie Agro Alimentaire, France). More information on the project can be found at http://www.foodmicrosystems.eu.

... 122 6.6.4.2. Interactive learning and reflexive monitoring in action .....122 6.6.5. Dealing ... more ... 122 6.6.4.2. Interactive learning and reflexive monitoring in action .....122 6.6.5. Dealing with the tension between a project and its institutional context..... 123 6.7. ...

Objective: To develop a model of the psychological factors which predict people's intention to ad... more Objective: To develop a model of the psychological factors which predict people's intention to adopt personalised nutrition. Potential determinants of adoption included perceived risk and benefit, perceived self-efficacy, internal locus of control and health commitment. Methods: A questionnaire, developed from exploratory study data and the existing theoretical literature, and including validated psychological scales was administered to N = 9381 participants from 9 European countries

Food Preservation by Pulsed Electric Fields, 2007

Abstract This chapter examines consumer perceptions of risks and benefits associated with emergin... more Abstract This chapter examines consumer perceptions of risks and benefits associated with emerging food technologies that may influence the acceptability of these technologies to consumers. A historical perspective on risk communication is provided. Other issues of relevance to the introduction of pulsed electric field technology are considered.

Public Health Genomics, 2014

vanTrijp HCM. Understanding consumer evaluations of personalised nutrition services in terms of t... more vanTrijp HCM. Understanding consumer evaluations of personalised nutrition services in terms of the privacy calculus: a qualitative study.

Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 2013

ABSTRACT The development of methods to create self‐reported attitude scales has lost momentum, in... more ABSTRACT The development of methods to create self‐reported attitude scales has lost momentum, in part because of increased research focused on implicit measures. This paper reviews 162 papers on methodological approaches applied to the validation and assessment of attitude scales. Assessment of methodological approaches applied indicates that neither reliability, validity, nor dimensionality assessments are consistently used according to standard operating procedures or in accordance with best practice. Within current practices in the field of attitude scale development, the full potential of self‐report scales is not met, in part because of such methodological issues. The improvement of existing practices and adoption of promising new developments in attitude scale construction and evaluation are discussed, together with recommendations for best practice in scale validation.

Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 2012

In a realistic social context, people are confronted with both positive and negative information,... more In a realistic social context, people are confronted with both positive and negative information, yet research on this topic is relatively scarce. We present 2 studies examining the role of initial attitudes on the impact of one-sided vs. balanced positive and negative information on attitudes toward food production methods. The first experiment demonstrated that one-sided information influenced postinformation attitudes congruent to the direction of the message content. The second experiment showed that the effect of balanced ...