Consumers' health and taste attitude in Taiwan The impacts of modern tainted food worries and gender difference

Purpose - Previous studies indicate that both health and taste are important factors in the food choice process. Owing to the industrialization of food processing and biotechnological innovations on the one hand and a series of food scandals on the other, consumers are now more concerned about modern food hazards. The present study aims to investigate whether consumers with varying degrees of modern tainted foods worries and gender difference will show variations in the Health and Taste Attitude Scales (HTAS). Design/methodology/approach - Of a total of 1,500 questionnaires sent out, 533 were found useful for this empirical analysis. The measurement items of the Health and Taste Attitude Scale (HTAS) were scored as the data input to test for the impacts of modern tainted foods worries and gender by ANOVA tests. Findings - The results of this study conducted in Taiwan indicate that those people identified in the high modern tainted foods worries group have more interests in health in foods but the low modern tainted foods worries group have more interests in taste in foods. In addition, though more concerned about health in foods, female consumers are also more interested in sweet foods. Practical implications - Some suggestions for food marketers and food policy makers are also provided in this study. Originality/value - To the best knowledge of this researcher, this study represents one of the first attempts to investigate the health and taste attitudes in Taiwan and tests for the impacts of modern tainted foods worries and gender.