Parents and children characteristics that contribute to food waste promotion behaviours among households
(A2023-114392)

AUTHORS

Violeta Stancu, Aarhus University, Denmark; Liisa Lähteenmäki, Aarhus University, Denmark

ABSTRACT

Even though the issue of food waste is gaining increasing awareness, there are still high amounts of waste generated across the food system, contributing to negative consequences for the environment and society. At the consumer level, avoiding food waste comes down to shopping only enough food, storing it properly, and eating it before it goes bad. Families with children are particularly vulnerable to waste more food. The present study aimed to assess the role of characteristics of parents and children in food waste in order to contribute to development of better tailored efforts against food waste. Parents’ environmental and frugal self-identities, impulsive buying tendency, disgust sensitivity and skills around food are main drivers of food provisioning behaviours relevant to food waste, whereas children’s picky eating contributes to higher food waste. These results have implications for promotion of food waste avoidance.