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In spite of Italy presenting one of the largest consumption of fruits and vegetables (FV) among EU Countries, the number of adult Italians consuming the recommended daily amounts of FV is declining, especially in the South of the country, were the expansion of the food retail industry has been lagging. In this article we assess whether the food retail structure affects the likelihood of adult Italians consuming five or more daily portions of FV, using 9 years of individual-level data on individuals’ lifestyle, including eating habits and perceived access to supermarkets, matched with detailed regional data on the food retail structure. In our analysis we use a Two-Step Instrumental Variable Probit estimator and variables indicating the political climate of the different regions to correct for the potential endogeneity of geographic disparity in retail structures. Results show that increased access and availability of fruits and vegetables affect positively the probability of consuming the daily-recommended amounts of FV. Food retail structure’s effect appears less marked for individuals declaring hurdles in accessing supermarkets. While individuals’ characteristics play an important role in explaining FV consumption probability among individuals declaring no hurdles in accessing supermarkets, transportation and perceived economic conditions are some of the main determinants for individuals declaring access hurdles.

Mycotoxins contamination in food is a serious source of health risks. This paper evaluates the Italian consumers’ perception of the mycotoxins’ risk through their willingness to pay (WTP) for a hypothetical bottle of milk obtained by cows fed with, inter alia, maize certified for the “good practices” (GPs) that reduce this risk. Therefore, a web-based stated choice experiment (SCE) has been carried out involving a representative sample of 973 Italian consumers and the WTP has been measured using the panel data version of a Random Parameters Logit (RPL) model. Results show that Italian consumers are willing to pay a 29% average price premium for “reduced-mycotoxins” milk. This premium increases for consumers between 44 and 54 years of age, who are students, have completed tertiary education, are economically well-off and shop fairly infrequently.

European statistics show that one of the most widespread source of health risks related to food is mycotoxins. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the Italian consumers’ perception of the mycotoxins’ risk and, more specifically, their willingness-to-pay (WTP) for a hypothetical bottle of milk obtained by cows in which the feed ration contains maize certified for the ‘good practices’ that reduce such risk. For this purpose, a web-based stated choice (SC) experiment involving a representative sample of 973 Italian consumers has been carried out and WTP has been measured using the panel data version of a Random Parameters Logit (RPL) model. The results show that Italian consumers are willing to pay a rather high average price premium for “reduced-micotoxin” milk. This premium becomes even higher for female, middle-age and low-education consumers.

In the European food sector private labels represent a relevant and increasing share of total sales. Thus, national brands need to adapt their marketing strategies to deal with this growing competition. Focusing on price strategies, recent theoretical papers conclude that private label development should cause a decrease in the price of national brands, while some empirical studies do not support this prediction. The aim of this study is to explore this empirical relationship for the Italian food retail sector, which is of special research interest, since it has undergone a dramatic change in the last 10 years. Using retail sales data, we build time series of market shares of prices of national brands and private labels for different dairy products and we study how prices of national brands react to private label growth. We find that, for most products, the negative impact of private label development on national brand prices is confirmed, and this may be mainly due to the difficulties in implementing product differentiation strategies by national brand manufacturers. A relevant exception is the hard discount channel, probably because its success is attracting an increasing number of national brands.

A test for convergence in food tastes based on the estimation of a time-varying-parameter demand system is proposed; the test uses a notion of convergence in time series that looks at equality in the long-term forecasts of parameter estimates through cointegration techniques. An empirical application is provided.

A test for convergence in food tastes based on the estimation of a time-varying-parameter demand system is proposed; the test uses a notion of convergence in time series that looks at equality in the long-term forecasts of parameter estimates through cointegration techniques. An empirical application is provided.