Table 4.

Main characteristics of the included reviews.

First author (year)	Number of articles included	Type of food	Terminology for food choice	Focus of the study	Method (of the studies included in the review)	Main finding (s)
Clark, B. (2017) [59]	54	Meat and fish	WTP, purchase, buy, WTB, preference, demand, choice	WTP for farm animal welfare and interventions to reduce production diseases.	Quantitative	Consumers are willing to pay a small price premium for farm animal welfare.
Hartmann, C. (2017) [55]	38	Meat and meat substitutes (cultured meat, insects)	Consumer-, consumption-behaviour	Consumer awareness of the environmental impact of meat consumption, consumer willingness to reduce meat consumption or substitute meat with alternatives, acceptance of meat substitutes and alternative proteins, e.g. insects and cultured meat.	Quantitative	Consumers are, in general, not aware of the environmental impact of meat. Large variations in consumer willingness to change meat consumption. Women more aware as well as more willing to reduce meat consumption. High meat consumption frequencies and positive attitudes towards meat associated with lower willingness to reduce consumption. Western consumers show a low level of acceptance for insects. Cultured meat less studied.
Pitt, E. (2017) [45]	30	Food in general	Food choice, consumption, intake, eat	The influence of the local food environment on food and purchasing behaviours.	Qualitative	Availability, accessibility and affordability represent key determinants of store choice and purchasing behaviours, which often resulted in less healthy food choice.
Román, S. (2017) [42]	72	Food in general	Perceptions, interest, concerns, preferences	Definitions and measurements of consumers' perceived importance of naturalness. How consumers' characteristics and attitudes towards food naturalness influence intentions and behaviour.	Mixed	Naturalness in food is important to the majority of consumers. FNI is higher among older and female consumers. Consumers with high FNI more willing to eat traditional, ecological, healthy and organic foods. Negative correlation with perception of novel food technologies.
Bryant, C. (2018) [56]	14	Cultured meat	Food choice, acceptance, buying decisions	Identify and synthesise findings of empirical studies exploring consumer acceptance of cultured meat.	Mixed	Increased familiarity, perceived feasibility, regulation, commercial availability, media coverage and ability to try are suggested as important drivers of consumer acceptance. Men and younger consumers are more positive.
Samoggia, A. (2018) [53]	54	Coffee	Consumption, purchasing, preferences, perception	Evidence and key determining factors of coffee purchasing and consumption behaviour. Synthesise the diversity of studies, methodological approaches, main issues and product types.	Mixed	Sensory qualities are key motives. Functional motives (physical and mental stimulation), health beliefs, habit, tradition and culture, connoisseurship, economic attributes (Fair trade, impact of socio-demographic variables). Context of consumption (location, occasion in time, socialising, lifestyle) is of importance.
Zorbas, C. (2018) [13]	39	Food in general, healthy and unhealthy	Healthy eating	Factors influencing healthy eating.	Qualitative	Lack of food and nutrition knowledge was a barrier to healthy eating. Food and nutrition knowledge -important to know what a healthy diet is. Supermarket availability and access to healthy foods are greater barriers to healthy eating for lower socioeconomic groups than for the general population.
Abril, E. P. (2019) [47]	14	Food in general, healthy and unhealthy	Healthy eating	Explore the effectiveness of ad campaigns in promoting consumption (go) of healthy foods or preventing (stop) unhealthy foods.	Quantitative	Findings indicate that neither stop (unhealthy) or go (healthy) information may be the most efficient tool to persuade healthy eating, but a mix of these. It was also suggested to make alternatives for more concrete (waist size) examples. Campaigns longer than six months seemed more consistently successful.
Graça, J. (2019) [43]	110	Meat and plant-based food	Food choice, behaviour, willingness	To map variables (i.e. actual or potential barriers and enablers) associated with meat reduction, meat substitution and adherence to plant-based diets.	Mixed	The male gender was associated with increased meat consumption and unwillingness to eat more plant-based diets, whereas the female gender was usually associated with lower meat consumption and with being more open to eat plant-based meals and follow plant-based diets. Urban areas, higher education, being young and higher SES more plant-based diets. The socially construed centrality of meat is a barrier.
Kushwah, S. (2019) [50]	89	Organic food	Purchase decision, intentions, consumption, WTP	Determinants of organic food consumption (purchase intentions, attitude, behaviour, WTP, preference, involvement, literacy, and decision-making heuristics).	Mixed	Identified barriers to purchase decisions are related to usage, value, image, traditional, risk and image.
Mackenbach, J. D. (2019) [60]	43	Fruits and vegetables, fast food	Dietary behaviour, intake, dietary patterns, dietary quality, food choices, food purchasing behaviour	Socioeconomic differences in the association between the food environments and dietary behaviour. Accessibility of retailers, availability or prices of foods.	Quantitative	Low SEP individuals more responsive to changes in food prices and were seen to benefit more from healthy options in a food environment. Still no clear evidence of the socioeconomic differences in the link between food environment and dietary behaviour.
Oostenbach, L. H. (2019) [41]	11	Food in general/diversity of food	Food purchase, food choice, intention	Influence of nutrition claims on knowledge, intentions, food purchases and consumption of food.	Mixed	Nutrition claims may have an impact on the knowledge of consumers with respect to perceived healthfulness, expected and experienced tastiness, and perceived appropriate portion size. Nutrition claims influence food purchase intentions, food purchases and consumption. Food with nutrition claims generally seem healthier and less tasty.
Tobi, R. C. A. (2019) [40]	30	Food in general	Preference, response, food choice	Effects on consumer food choice of three sustainable labelling schemes (nutrition, environmental, social responsibility information).	Mixed	The most preferred attribute was organic labelling. A general positive view of environmental and social responsibility food labelling schemes.
Bennett, R. (2020) [44]	16	Food in general	Consumer purchasing behaviour	The prevalence of price promotions on healthy and unhealthy foods and beverages within retail settings. The influence of price promotions.	Mixed	Price promotions more common for unhealthy foods and beverages. Findings suggest that the potential influence of price promotion is greater for unhealthy, compared to healthy food.
Cantillo, J. (2020) [38]	39	Finfish	WTP, buying, choice	Determine the most important attributes used when analysing consumers' preferences for finfish and summarise the WTP estimates of different attributes	Mixed	WTP higher for domestic products and wild, preferred over farmed foods. Higher WTP for certified products (sustainability, health and safety). Differences depending on type of label or claim.
Harbers, M. C. (2020) [63]	75	Food in general	Food choice, purchase	Evidence of the effectiveness of nudges when promoting healthy purchase and food choice in real-life food purchase environments.	Mixed	Information and position nudges may contribute to improving population dietary behaviours. Evidence investigating the moderating role of SEP was limited, although some studies reported greater effects in low SEP subgroups.
Harguess, J. M. (2020) [48]	22	Meat	Behaviour, intention, willingness	To identify factors associated with reduced meat consumption.	Mixed	Increasing knowledge alone, or combined with other methods, was shown to successfully reduce meat consumption behaviour or intentions/willingness to eat meat.
Karpyn, A. (2020) [62]	42	Healthy food	Consumer purchasing habits, choices	Explore how changes in the food retail environments (i.e. grocery and supermarket) can promote healthier food purchasing and consumption.	Mixed	Promotion was the most commonly utilised strategy for single-component interventions, and manipulating promotion, placement, and product was the most common strategy used for multi-component intervention.
Rivaroli, S. (2020) [57]	222	Diversity of food	Food choice, purchase, WTP	Key motives underlying consumer's perception of craftsmanship of foods.	Mixed	The need to assess consumers' understanding of food product craftsmanship, for policy makers and marketers in order to avoid confusion in the consumer's mind.
Stampa, E. (2020) [39]	39	Pasture-raised livestock food products	Food choice, purchase, WTP	Consumer studies on perceptions, preferences, behaviour and WTP for pasture raised products.	Mixed	Information on pasture meat production and its values can increase consumption and consumer choice.
Young, E. (2020) [58]	28	Food in general	Purchase intent, food choice, WTP, WTB	Consumer perceptions of active and intelligent packaging technologies in general and consumer perceptions of the specific technologies (including nanotechnologies).	Mixed	Familiarity is low, providing information increases trust, bridges the gap between risk and benefits and increases trust.
Bastounis, A. (2021) [49]	35	Diversity of food	WTP	WTP for food with and without eco-labels, changes due to information/attributes (certification), associations between demographics and WTP.	Quantitative	WTP higher for food with an ecolabel. Stronger effect for meat and dairy, compared to seafood, nuts, vegetables and fruits. Organic labels were valued higher compared to more specific environmental labels. Women and persons with a lower educational background had higher WTP for foods with an ecolabel. Women and younger persons more receptive to ecolabels, compared to male and older persons.
Turner, G. (2021) [61]	36	Fruits and vegetables	Consumption, intake	Assessing the dimensions of access to fruits and vegetables in the retail food environment with consumption of these products.	Quantitative	The availability of F&V is a more important component than proximity and density of food stores. The importance of physical access and acceptability was unclear. F&V affordability was not associated with intake.
Govzman, S. (2021) [46]	121	Seafood	Dietary intake, consumption	Barriers and influence on seafood consumption.	Mixed	Seafood consumers are older, more affluent, educated and physically active. Consumption relates to personal preferences, availability, cost, cooking skills, knowledge, environment, health, nutrition beliefs. Price was the dominating barrier.
Hartmann, T. (2021) [52]	40	Suboptimal food	Purchase, buy, choice	Consumers' willingness to choose/purchase/pay for suboptimal food in a retail setting, and retailers' marketing measures to support sales.	Mixed	Quality concerns have been well documented as an attitude barrier to the purchase of SF. Efficient to frame positively (sustainability, CSR, highlight “naturalness”). Contextual changes (increase availability, enhance attractiveness) support sales.
Biasini, B. (2021) [66]	67	Food in general	Behavioural intention, consumption, intake, choice	Identify main drivers of behavioural change towards sustainable diets.	Mixed	Attitude towards behaviour was identified as the most significant predictor of intention. Interventions aiming at changing intentions should target attitude and social norms, followed by perceived barriers and facilitating factors.
Potter, C. (2021) [54]	56	Diversity of food	Consumption, selection, purchase	Measure effects of eco-labels on the selection, purchase and/or consumption of any foods or drinks in both actual and hypothetical environments.	Quantitative	Ecolabels can promote the selection, purchase and consumption of more sustainable food and drinks.
Aguirre Sánchez, L. (2021) [51]	40	Sustainable food	Consumption, food purchase	Factors influencing sustainable food consumption behaviour.	Quantitative	Knowledge and attitudes showed mixed results. Sustainable consumers reported healthier lifestyles. To follow a vegetarian diet was associated with being female, non-smoker, lower proportion of daily caloric intake from fats and a lower-income.

WTB = willingness to buy, WTP = willingness to pay, FNI=Naturalness in foods, SES=Socioeconomic status, SEP = socioeconomic position, F&V = fruit and vegetables, SF=Suboptimal food.