Abstract
BACKGROUND: Consumers often express concern about the quality of fruit available to buy and the rate at which it deteriorates in their homes. Despite this there are few studies on quality of fruit collected from consumers. This study considered three questions: (1) what was the quality of fruit in retail stores and how did it vary over the study period? (2) What was the extent that fruit quality deteriorated in consumers' homes? (3) Were there any consumer behaviours or attitudes that extenuated or mitigated the effects of fruit deterioration in the home?
RESULTS: The quality of fruit purchased from the supermarkets was above what would be considered commercially acceptable, but varied in a nonβsystematic fashion across the study period. The fruit in consumers' homes was of slightly lower physical quality than that purchased from the supermarkets, and the deterioration in quality was as would be expected as fruit ripens. Even so, 28% of consumers indicated that they dispose of fruit each week. This occurred despite many of them having strategies to minimise wastage.
CONCLUSION: Despite the deterioration and wastage of fruit, the consumers in this study did not appear overly concerned and some even took ownership for the poor quality of fruit in their home. Copyright Β© 2008 Society of Chemical Industry