CONSUMERS’ FAMILIARITY & CHARACTERISTICS BASED ON FOOD

QUALITY CERTIFICATIONS FOR RICE AND VEGETABLES IN VIETNAM

Group 1
Students
1. Dinh Thi Lan Anh - 20190400
2. Nguyen Duong Viet Anh - 20190404
3. Vo Hoang Dung - 20190434
4. Nguyen Anh Tuan - 20190600

Abstract
This study investigates consumers’ attitudes towards, and familiarity with, food
quality certification in selected urban areas in the South of Vietnam. Cross-sectional data
were collected by means of a consumer survey (n ¼ 500). Consumers’ awareness of food
quality-related terms was relatively low. Less than half the participants claimed to
understand the meaning of good agricultural practices (GAP), organic food and
sustainability. Consumers’ familiarity with food quality certification (Vietnamese Good
Agricultural Practices (VietGAP), Global Good Agricultural Practices (GLOBALG.A.P),
organic, and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP)) was also low.
Perceived importance of healthy eating was positively related to attitude towards high
quality rice. Additionally, an increase in the perceived importance of environmental
consequences relating to quality food purchase should be encouraged to enhance positive
consumer attitudes towards quality food. Efforts to improve public awareness and
knowledge of food quality certification and sustainable agricultural practices in
developing countries such as Vietnam are highly recommended.

Introduction
Vietnam's economy is experiencing a rapidly developing period, and people's
living standards have improved significantly. Following the taking part in the WTO of
Vietnam, the trend of consumers is no longer "eat well and dress warmly" but "eat safely
and dress well" instead. In Vietnam, food quality and safety have received increasing
attention throughout the food supply chain, however, poor farming practices, pesticide
use and abuse, treatment processes improperly processed, and unknown origin problems
are frequent and cause serious problems. Therefore, in developing countries, especially
Vietnam, are increasingly interested in the research of quality standards and food safety.
Although it has been reported that Vietnamese consumers have sufficient knowledge of
food safety, the possible uncertainty of food quality and safety is one of the main
obstacles consumers face when choosing food suitable for this sector. At present,
Vietnam has many different types of food quality certification and labeling: Vietnam
Good Agricultural Practice (VietGAP), Global Good Agricultural Practice
(GLOBALG.A.P), Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point HACCP), etc.
In the research scope of the report, rice and vegetables are the two selected products
because they are common daily foods of Vietnamese consumers with rice consumption
up to more than 300g/person/day and vegetable consumption per capita is the highest in
the world, averaging 290g/person/day.
The specific objectives of this study are investigating consumers’ familiarity, attitudes
towards, and possible food choice motives related to quality-certified foods based in
Vietnam; then analyzing how food choice motives affect attitudes toward quality-
certified food. Based on the results, implications for marketing strategies for food quality
labels in Vietnam has provided.

Materials & Methods

1. Data collection and Sample
During June-July 2015, a sample of 500 consumers completed the survey, equally
distributed across two main urban areas in the South of Vietnam, Can Tho and Ho Chi
Minh city. All participants were recruited at the entrance to local markets and
supermarkets in the urban areas of the two cities.
2. Questionnaire
The questionnaire consists of three parts with different answers following the objective of
this study. It was developed following literature reviews and discussions with experts and
related stakeholders, such as local consumers, authorities, retailers and traders in
Vietnam. Besides, pilot tests were conducted to verify the clarity of the questions and
terms used.
3. Methods
Firstly, participants were informed about the survey filling process and were asked
whether they were the primary food shoper for the household, also how often they bought
and consumed rice and vegetables.
After providing the concepts of food quality certifications, consumers were inquired to
indicate their familiarity with them, including VietGAP, GLOBALG.A.P., organic and,
HACCP.
Finally, consumer characteristics were surveyed to analyze the differences between those
who were and were unfamiliar with food quality certifications.
4. Data Analysis
Statistical analyses were performed with the software program SPSS 22.0 and STATA
13.0. Statistical significance was evaluated at a=0.05. In addition, descriptive statistics
such as chi-square association tests, independent sample t-tests, and one-way ANOVA
were applied to profile consumers according to their familiarity with food quality
certifications for rice and vegetables.

Results & Discussion

The number of incidents related to food safety is increasing nowadays, it is
extremely necessary and urgent to investigate consumers perceptions of food quality. The
data in given bar chart of figure 1 demonstrates Vietnamese people’s familiarity with
food certifications depend on research of 500 people with all aged and gender.

(My et al., 2017)

Overall, the familiarity rate with each certification is all in warning level. VietGAP is the
most familiar certification in Viet Nam and the most unknow is HACCP.

To begin with, VietGAP is the most popular certification with only 40% of survey
participants are unfamiliar. Furthermore, the survey divide many different level of
reliable from slightly to very familiar. Similarly, Organic have almost the same data with
VietGAP. Move to GLOBALG.A.P and HACCP, both of them are international
certifications and for this reason, in Vietnam they have less people know about. The
number of survey members don’t familiar with these certifications both take more than
60% mostly 1.5 times with unfamiliar group of VietGAP.

The table below which have clearly data about consumers characteristic show that main
housewife mostly are women at the middle aged. Moreover, people who have higher
education and more than average income are know more about food safety certifications,
(and) they tend to buy food at supermarket where food must have certification instead of
a local market like the rest.

(My et al., 2017)

To sum up, there are some conclusions throughout the figure. Firstly, having
certifications label on product can make citizen curious and interested with that and
they’ll become more familiar. Secondly, Price is not the main factor affect consumer
trends. Consumers are ready to buy if it is safe and then delicious.

Conclusion
Since there is a lack of knowledge about consumers’ attitudes towards food quality
labels in developing countries such as Vietnam, this study contributes towards a better
understanding of attitudes and motivations towards food quality certifications. This
caused many potential hazards to consumers' health and make it difficult for the state to
manage food quality. The best solution to this problem is to increase people’s knowledge
of the benefit of safe food. Besides, Vietnam has to make the food that has quality
certifications become more popular and needs to do more research on this issue.
 References
My, N. H. D., Rutsaert, P., Van Loo, E. J., & Verbeke, W. (2017). Consumers’ familiarity with and attitudes
towards food quality certifications for rice and vegetables in Vietnam. Food Control, 82, 74–82.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodcont.2017.06.011