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. 2023 Mar 8;18(2):133–146. doi: 10.1007/s00003-023-01424-1

Consumer attitudes and perceptions towards chilled ready-to-eat foods: a multi-national study

Nada Smigic 1,✉, Sibel Ozilgen 2, Vicente M Gómez-López 3, Sandra María Osés 4, Zorana Miloradovic 1, Biljana Aleksic 1, Jelena Miocinovic 1, Sonja Smole Možina 5, Ajda Kunčič 5, Raquel Guiné 6, João Carlos Gonçalves 7, Joanna Trafialek 7, Ewa Czarniecka-Skubina 7, Gunjan Goel 8, Marijana Blazic 9, Dora Herljevic 9, Aleksandra Nikolić 10, Alen Mujčinović 10, Ilija Djekic 1
PMCID: PMC9994415  PMID: 37265593

Abstract

Understanding consumers’ behavior and their handling of high-risk foods at home is essential for reducing the number of foodborne illnesses. This study shows the results of a cross-national analysis of consumers’ perception from nine countries, and the identification of customers’ clusters and its characteristics in order to understand customers’ behavior, and to build safe chilled ready-to-eat (RTE) foods prevention strategies. The cluster analysis resulted in two clusters: (1) “Precautious consumers” characterized by the orientation towards pre-packed RTE foods, with consumers mainly coming from Bosnia and Herzegovina, India, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and Turkey. Their attitudes and self-reported practices may be categorized as less risky in terms of food-borne illnesses connected with the consumption of RTE foods; (2) “Unconcerned consumers” preferred cutting and slicing RTE foods freshly at the point of purchase, usually sold at the delicatessen department in a supermarket or at open markets. Those consumers mostly came from Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia and their attitudes and self-reported practices were riskier. These results allow a better understating of what characterizes consumers of RTE foods in different countries.

Keywords: Consumers’ perception, Chilled ready-to-eat foods, Food handling, Food safety

Introduction

Food-borne diseases include various illnesses ranging from mild gastrointestinal issues to life threatening illnesses such as meningitis, septicemia, spontaneous abortion, still birth, hemolytic–uremic syndrome, Guillain-Barre syndrome, etc. (Bari and Yeasmin 2018; Gandhi and Chikindas 2007). The World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated the burden of food-borne diseases, with annual incidents of more than 420,000 m cases and 230,000 deaths from diarrheal diseases, caused by consumption of contaminated food and/or water (Kirk et al. 2015). Although the majority of the cases occur in developing countries, food-borne diseases also occur in great numbers in developed countries (EFSA 2021; Painter et al. 2013). In 2020, more than 3,000 foodborne related outbreaks and more than 30,000 cases of illnesses have been reported only in EU (EFSA 2021), despite the COVID19 pandemic and Brexit.

RTE food consumption is growing due to a changing lifestyle. As they are typically consumed as raw or minimally-processed, they may contain pathogens such as Listeria monocytogenes, isolated from various RTE foods and exhibiting a high survivability rate e.g. in Spain (Gómez et al. 2015; Jofré et al. 2019), Serbia (Borovic et al. 2014; Lakićević et al. 2010), India (Lakhanpal et al. 2016), Poland (Szymczak et al. 2020) or Turkey (Şanlıbaba et al. 2018). Among these, delicatessen meats, smoked and cured fish, soft cheese, ice cream, produce (diced celery, cantaloupe, mung bean sprouts, stone fruit, caramel apples, pre-packaged salads) and frozen vegetables have been implicated in various outbreaks (Chao et al. 2006; Cordano and Jacquet 2009; Gérard et al. 2018; Verraes et al. 2015; Zhang et al. 2021). Although the rates of listeriosis are relatively low compared to other foodborne pathogenic illnesses, it poses a significant risk to human health due to high mortality rate (Buchanan et al. 2017).

Chilled RTE foods are pre-sliced and pre-packaged cold chain distributed sold foods. Slicing is often applied as a final step of heat-treated foods before they are packaged, often in vacuum or modified gas packaging (Gonzalez-Fandos et al. 2021). At the same time, chilled RTE foods can be produced in bulk and then sliced fresh on point of purchase to individual consumers. These products are called cut-to-order, in-store packaged or non-pre-packaged RTE foods (Garrido et al. 2009; Tsaloumi et al. 2021). For pre-packaged RTE foods sold in original package from the producer, the contamination usually occurs during the manufacturing process. However, for retail packages, where the products are handled in retail establishments, the used slicers and the service personnel can potentially bring cross-contamination to the products (Gallagher et al. 2016; Lakicevic and Nastasijevic 2016). Contamination of RTE foods by L. monocytogenes can occur at different points within the processing and distribution chain, although the post processing contamination during slicing at retail stores may result in considerable higher prevalence of contamination when compared to pre-packaged food products (Endrikat et al. 2010; Gallagher et al. 2016; Garrido et al. 2009; Gombas et al. 2003). The results of comparative risk assessment indicated that retail-sliced RTE meat and poultry products are almost 5 times more likely to cause listeriosis than pre-packaged food products (Endrikat et al. 2010). At the same time, results of quantitative modeling performed by European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) have indicated that more than 90% of all invasive cases of listeriosis are caused by ingestion of RTE foods that contain > 2000 CFU/g, and one-third by factors caused by consumers (Ricci et al. 2018). Therefore, it is necessary to raise the awareness of all stakeholders in the RTE foods supply chain, including food producers, retailers and consumers, especially vulnerable groups of consumers about the problem of L. monocytogenes in RTE foods. In Greece, the results of recent quantitative risk assessment of L. monocytogenes in different RTE cooked meat products sliced at retail stores predicted a median value of 7 listeriosis cases per year for the total population. It also proposed mitigation strategies, such as labeling a use-by-date and improving the temperature of domestic refrigerators to decrease the number of potential cases (Tsaloumi et al. 2021).

Consumers are the last line of defense against foodborne illnesses (Redmond and Griffith 2003). Most cases of foodborne illnesses are believed to be sporadic, mild and unreported, and often occur in domestic settings (Murray et al. 2017; Nesbitt et al. 2009). Consumers often fail to follow individual recommended food safety practices, e.g. relating to time and temperature control of chilled RTE foods (Evans and Redmond 2014), but also they misinterpret the food labels (Van Boxstael et al. 2014). Understanding consumers’ behavior and their home practices, as well as their handling of high-risk foods is essential for reducing the number of foodborne illnesses. Several studies have reported consumers’ behaviors towards RTE foods (Cates et al. 2006; Evans and Redmond 2016; Van Loo et al. 2010; Levine et al. 2017), and evaluated how consumers perceive food safety risks in retail food store settings, using selected photographs and self-reported perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors, where consumers with a food science background had more knowledge about factors contributing to food safety risks than the average focus group participant. Jevšnik et al. (2008) reported that Slovenian consumers were not familiar with their role in the food safety chain or with the importance of maintaining a cold chain, and consequently allowing numerous opportunities for microbiological contamination of food (Jevšnik et al. 2008). Similar behavior and knowledge gaps concerning food safety issues are reported for Polish (Tomaszewska et al. 2020) and Turkish consumers (Ergönül 2013; Zorba and Kaptan 2011). Moreover, RTE seafood stored at inadequate temperatures in an open refrigerated display at a Spanish retail allowed pathogen growth (González et al. 2013). Temperature distributions in home refrigerators and their inadequate hygiene were of major concern of food safety issues in several studies performed in Serbia (Jovanovic et al. 2022), Portugal (Azevedo et al. 2005), India (Lagerkvist et al. 2021), Slovenia (Ovca et al. 2021) and Spain (Victoria Garrido et al. 2010; Jofré et al. 2019).

Due to previously reported geographical unique habits in food consumption and purchase (Chen and Antonelli 2020; Djekic et al. 2021), we hypothesized that survey participants would exhibit differences in attitudes and practices towards chilled RTE food. Therefore, a cross-national consumers’ perception was studied that included 9 countries to identify customer segments and its characteristics. The aim of the segmentation was to identify consumer profiles with risky practices when consuming chilled RTE foods. This information is necessary for further recommendations and strategies of risk mitigation at the multinational level.

Materials and methods

Participants

An online survey was created using Google Forms®. It was conducted in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, India, Poland, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain and Turkey. The responses were collected by convenience sampling through social media and e-mailing and via national contacts that were responsible for its distribution among pre-existing contact lists. In this way, the worldwide restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic were overcome. The participants were volunteers, aged over 18, not financially rewarded, and recruited through networks of families, friends, relatives and their networks. Participants who did not complete the whole questionnaire were excluded from the analyses. The data was collected between June and December 2021 and centrally stored. All study procedures were conducted in line with the Codex of professional ethics of the University of Belgrade (2016).

In total, 2723 questionnaires where included (Table 1): 449 from Bosnia and Herzegovina (16.5%), 353 from Croatia (13.0%), 210 from India (7.7%), 305 from Poland (11.2%), 352 from Portugal (12.9%), 387 from Serbia (14.2%), 106 from Slovenia (3.9%), 200 from Spain (7.3%), and 361 Turkey (13.3%). Despite the rather small country-by-country sample sizes for the purpose of this study, for the confidence level of 95% the margin of error varied between 4.6 and 9.5%, considering the populations in the individual countries. While at a confidence level of 90%, the margin of error varied between 3.9 and 8.0%. Therefore, the conclusions drawn from this study represent a reasonable alignment for the individual countries. Margins of error were calculated using the standard deviation of the population (σ), the sample size (n) and the z-score of the confidence interval (for 95% = 1.960, for 99% = 2.326): z * (σ/ √ n).

Table 1.

Demographic composition of participants (n = 2723)

Factor Level Number (n) % of sample
Country Bosnia and Herzegovina 449 16.5
Croatia 353 13.0
Poland 305 11.2
Portugal 352 12.9
Serbia 387 14.2
Spain 200 7.3
Slovenia 106 3.9
Turkey 361 13.3
India 210 7.7
Gender Female 1830 67.2
Male 875 32.1
Prefer not to say 18 0.7
Age Young (< 20 years) 168 6.2
Adults (21–40 years) 1222 44.9
Middle aged (41–60 years) 849 31.2
Old (> 60 years) 484 17.8
Education Elementary school 59 2.2
High school 560 20.6
Graduate 1499 55.0
Post graduate 605 22.2
Employment Unemployed 790 29.0
Seasonal job 259 9.5
Permanent job/Retired 1674 61.5
Responsible for purchasing Yes, most of the time 1581 58.1
Yes, sometimes 904 33.2
No 238 8.7
Responsible for preparing Yes, most of the time 1442 53.0
Yes, sometimes 961 35.3
No 320 11.8
Number of household members 1 member 241 8.9
2–3 members 1292 47.4
4–5 members 1020 37.5
 > 5 members 170 6.2
Small child (< 5 years old) living in the household Yes 371 13.6
No 2352 86.4
Old person (> 60 years old) living in the household Yes 1009 37.1
No 1714 62.9
Immune-compromised person living in the household Yes 525 19.3
No 2198 80.7
Pregnant women living in the household Yes 148 5.4
No 2575 94.6
Total 2723 100
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Questionnaire

An extensive questionnaire was initially written in English and subsequently translated by native speakers to ensure accuracy and preserve its original meaning into the languages of the participating countries, using the procedure of back-translation (Maneesriwongul and Dixon 2004). The questionnaire was designed with the objective to gather the information of consumers’ attitudes and self-reported practices regarding food safety of chilled RTE foods. To measure internal consistency and reliability of the questionnaire, Cronbach’s alpha test was calculated (0.736), which is considered acceptable (Bland and Altman 1997).

At the beginning of the questionnaire, the participants were introduced to the aim of this study and a definition of RTE foods that was given to ensure that all respondents understood the meaning in the same way. The definition was as follows: “Ready-to-eat food is food prepared in advance needing no further cooking or processing before being served/eaten. This study covers only chilled RTE dairy and meat foods.” Along with this definition, other terms used in the questionnaire were also explained, such as “pre-packaged products” and “cut-to-order products”.

The questionnaire consisted of 4 sections. The first section contained questions related to main demographic characteristics of participants including country, gender, age, education, number of family members and if there was a small child, pregnant women, age > 60 years, and people with compromised immune system (diabetes, liver or kidney disease, cancer, autoimmune diseases, people receiving chemotherapy or radiation therapy, people with organ transplant) in the household. In addition, this part of the questionnaire investigated the responsibility of buying, preparing and serving food.

The second section included questions related to habits of purchasing (pre-packaged in a supermarket/specialized shop, cut-to-order in a supermarket/specialized shop, open market/open bazaar and not buying) and habits of consuming chilled RTE foods (RTE foods, ingredient of thermally treated products, not buying), including fresh cheese, white brined cheese, kaymak, butter, sliced hard cheese, cooked ham, fermented ham, dried ham and salmon.

The third section included 22 statements related to consumers’ attitudes towards food safety of chilled RTE, which were presented on a 5-point Likert Scale, ranging from “Strongly Disagree” to “Strongly Agree” (1→5). Final section of the questionnaire comprised of 15 statements related to self-reported practices with a five-point Likert Scale, ranging from “Never” to “Always” (1→5).

Data analysis

The obtained data were coded and analyzed in IBM SPSS version 21 by two-step cluster analysis. This is an exploratory and unsupervised multivariate data analysis technique that enables the clustering of large data sets. This method is based on a probabilistic approach, when the algorithm utilizes a likelihood distance measure as the similarity criterion, and the most suitable number of clusters is chosen on the basis of Schwarz’s Bayesian inference criterion (BIC). The number of clusters is calculated based on the best fit, the BIC, and a silhouette coefficient. The silhouette coefficient is a measure of clustering quality that is independent from the number of clusters (K), and can be used to evaluate cluster validity. The clustering solution is considered poor when the silhouette measure is < 0.20, values of > 0.50 indicate a good and intermediate values an acceptable clustering solution (Mooi and Sarstedt 2011). Two-step cluster analysis is considered to be more accurate and reliable compared to other clustering methods and was extensively used in different fields (Tkaczynski 2016) and in numerous consumer studies (Geeroms et al. 2008; Miloradovic et al. 2021; Zakowska-Biemans 2011; Zhllima et al. 2021).

For those reasons, a two-step cluster analysis has been used for the segmentation of the study participators, based on items describing place of buying various RTE foods and countries, as categorical variables. The two-cluster solution was obtained automatically by BIC with 15 clusters set as maximum. Log-likelihood distance measure was used. To further characterize the clusters and to investigate any significant differences between the clusters, the Chi-squared tests and Mann-Whitney U tests were conducted for variables with nominal and ordinal outcomes, respectively. The level of significance was p < 0.05.

Results and discussion

Characteristics of the sample

Socio-demographic data showed that 2,723 participants have been interviewed. The survey was completed by 67.2% female, 32.1% male and 0.7% participants not willing to declare gender. The majority were adults 44.9% (between 21 and 40 years of age), followed by middle-aged adults 31.2% (between 41 and 60 years of age), older participants 17.8% (> 60 years). The smallest sample consisted of young people < 20 years (6.2%). The majority of survey participants obtained a College/University degree (55.0%), 22.2% of participants obtained Master/PhD degree, 20.65% finished high school and 2.2% finished elementary school. As mentioned earlier, participants from 9 countries were included in this survey (Table 1).

Cluster analysis

Considering each country of origin, the samples were divided into 2 clusters according to their preferences of purchasing and RTE foods:

  • supermarket vs. delicatessen department/open market

  • pre-packaged/not buying vs. cut-to-order.

These variables have been selected due to the fact that there is positive correlation between consumer’s perception towards the product quality and choice of store (Catherine and Magesh 2016). Additionally, customers from different countries are expected to have different purchasing behavior, and thus different perception towards RTE foods (Djekic et al. 2021). Demographic characteristics and habits regarding place of buying RTE foods are presented in Table 2 and 3, respectively. Silhouette measure of cohesion and separation (0.30), and the ratio of largest to smallest cluster size (1.11) confirmed that having two clusters was the acceptable and optimal solution.

Table 2.

Demographic characteristics of participants distributed among 2 clusters

Cluster 1 “precautious consumers” (n = 1434) Cluster 2 “unconcerned consumers” (n = 1289) Chi-Squared test
n % n %
Country Bosnia and Herzegovina 232 51.70% 217 48.30% χ2 = 231.1, df = 8, p < 0.05
Croatia 130 36.80% 223 63.20%
Poland 168 55.10% 137 44.90%
Portugal 203 57.70% 149 42.30%
Serbia 112 28.90% 275 71.10%
Spain 117 58.50% 83 41.50%
Slovenia 52 49.10% 54 50.90%
Turkey 270 74.80% 91 25.20%
India 150 71.40% 60 28.60%
Gender Female 980 53.6% 850 46.4% χ2 = 1.935, df = 2, p < 0.05
Male 444 50.7% 431 49.3%
Prefer not to say 10 55.6% 8 44.4%
Age Young (< 20 years) 111 66.10% 57 33.90% χ2 = 31.2, df = 3, p < 0.05
Adults (21–40 years) 666 54.50% 556 45.50%
Middle aged (41–60 years) 448 52.80% 401 47.20%
Old (> 60 years) 209 43.20% 275 56.80%
Education Elementary school 27 45.80% 32 54.20%

χ2 = 10.4,

df = 3,

p < 0.05
High school 299 53.40% 261 46.60%
Graduate 758 50.60% 741 49.40%
Post graduate 350 57.90% 255 42.10%
Employment Unemployed 462 58.50% 328 41.50% χ2 = 15.4, df = 2, p < 0.05
Seasonal job 126 48.60% 133 51.40%
Permanent job/retired 846 50.50% 828 49.50%
Responsible for purchasing Yes, most of the time 844 53.40% 737 46.60% χ2 = 6.9, df = 2, p < 0.05
Yes, sometimes 450 49.80% 454 50.20%
No 140 58.80% 98 41.20%
Responsible for preparing Yes, most of the time 767 53.20% 675 46.80% χ2 = 7.9, df = 2, p < 0.05
Yes, sometimes 479 49.80% 482 50.20%
No 188 58.80% 132 41.30%
Number of household members 1 member 139 57.70% 102 42.30% χ2 = 6.5, df = 3, p = 0.088
2 till 3 members 655 50.70% 637 49.30%
4 till 5 members 556 54.50% 464 45.50%
 > 5 members 84 49.40% 80 50.60%
Small child (< 5 years old) living in the household Yes 184 49.60% 187 50.40% χ2 = 1.6, df = 1, p = 0.218
No 1250 53.10% 1102 46.90%
Old person (> 60 years old) living in the household Yes 490 48.60% 519 51.40% χ2 = 15.4, df = 1, p < 0.05
No 944 55.10% 770 44.90%
Immune-compromised person living in the household Yes 265 50.50% 260 49.50% χ2 = 1.2, df = 1, p = 0.285
No 1169 53.20% 1029 46.80%
Pregnant women living in the household Yes 65 43.90% 83 56.10% χ2 = 15.4, df = 2, p < 0.05
No 1369 53.20% 1,206 46.80%
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Table 3.

Distribution of participants among 2 clusters

RTE food product Place of buying “Precautious consumers” (n = 1434) “Unconcerned consumers”
(n = 1289)		 Chi-Squared Test
n % n %
Fresh cheese Pre-packed, supermarket or specialized shop 1048 72.50% 398 27.50% χ 2 = 592.9, df = 3, p < 0.05
Cut-to-order, supermarket delicatessen or specialized shop 143 20.50% 553 79.50%
Cut-to-order, open market/bazaar 89 28.30% 225 71.70%
I don’t buy it 154 57.70% 113 42.30%
White brined cheese Pre-packed, supermarket or specialized shop 865 7300% 320 27.00% χ 2 = 666.4, df = 3, p < 0.05
Cut-to-order, supermarket delicatessen or specialized shop 133 17.50% 626 82.50%
Cut-to-order, open market/bazaar 83 31.90% 177 68.10%
I don’t buy it 353 68.00% 166 32.00%
Kaymak/ butter Pre-packed, supermarket or specialized shop 900 63.70% 512 36.30% χ 2 = 362.6, df = 3, p < 0.05
Cut-to-order, supermarket delicatessen or specialized shop 138 24.50% 425 75.50%
Cut-to-order, open market/bazaar 50 22.70% 170 77.30%
I don’t buy it 346 65.50% 182 34.50%
Sliced cheese Pre-packed, supermarket or specialized shop 1052 82.00% 231 18.00% χ 2 = 1235.4, df = 3, p < 0.05
Cut-to-order, supermarket delicatessen or specialized shop 137 13.70% 863 86.30%
Cut-to-order, open market/bazaar 13 9.20% 129 90.80%
I don’t buy it 232 77.90% 66 22.10%
Sliced cooked ham Pre-packed, supermarket or specialized shop 978 91.20% 94 8.80% χ 2 = 1688.4, df = 3, p < 0.05
Cut-to-order, supermarket delicatessen or specialized shop 115 10.00% 1032 90.00%
Cut-to-order, open market/bazaar 9 9.20% 89 90.80%
I don’t buy it 332 81.80% 74 18.20%
Sliced fermented ham Pre-packed, supermarket or specialized shop 923 92.00% 80 8.00% χ 2 = 1693.4, df = 3, p < 0.05
Cut-to-order, supermarket delicatessen or specialized shop 44 4.60% 917 95.40%
Cut-to-order, open market/bazaar 9 7.90% 105 92.10%
I don’t buy it 458 71.00% 187 29.00%
Sliced dried ham Pre-packed, supermarket or specialized shop 947 94.30% 57 5.70% χ 2 = 1814.5, df = 3, p < 0.05
Cut-to-order, supermarket delicatessen or specialized shop 79 7.50% 975 92.50%
Cut-to-order, open market/bazaar 25 13.60% 159 86.40%
I don’t buy it 383 79.60% 98 20.40%
Sliced salmon Pre-packed, supermarket or specialized shop 856 72.90% 319 27.10% χ 2 = 619.1, df = 3, p < 0.05
Cut-to-order, supermarket delicatessen or specialized shop 58 10.50% 497 89.50%
Cut-to-order, open market/bazaar 9 16.40% 46 83.60%
I don’t buy it 511 54.50% 427 45.50%
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The chi-square test was used to check for significant differences between the 2 clusters for 12 socio-demographic variables (Table 2). Eight out of the 12 variables were significantly different (p < 0.05), namely country, age, education, employment, responsibility for purchasing and preparing foods and old person living in the household (Table 2). In addition, chi-square test was applied to determine significant difference (p < 0.05) between the 2 clusters for habits related to place of buying RTE foods and obtained results indicated significant difference between clusters for all food categories (Table 3).

Precautious consumers

Cluster 1 included 1434 participants in total (52.7%), and cluster 2 had 1289 (47.3%). Cluster 1 included predominantly consumers from Bosnia and Herzegovina (51.7%), India (71.4%), Poland (55.1%), Portugal (57.7%), Spain (58.5%) and Turkey (74.8%). Consumers that have been classified in this cluster were young (66.1%), adults (54.5%) and middle aged (52.8%), with the education of high school (53.4%), graduate (50.6%) and post-graduate (57.9%). Furthermore, this cluster includes participants from households that predominantly not living with a person > 60 years (55.1%), or pregnant women (53.2%). This group represents highly educated customers which suggest its involvement and higher level of safety awareness. At the same time, the participants of cluster 1 had a habit of buying pre-packaged dairy and meat RTE foods in a supermarket and specialized shops, or they were those not buy RTE products at all (Table 3). This cluster was labeled “Precautious consumers”.

Unconcerned consumers

Cluster 2 consisted of 1289 participants, representing 47.3% of the total sample. This cluster included predominantly consumers from Serbia (71.1%), Croatia (63.2%) and less but over the average consumers from Slovenia (50.9%). Most had elementary education (54.2%), were aged > 60 years (56.8%), or living in a household with a person aged > 60 years (51.4%), or living in the household with a pregnant woman (56.1%). This cluster showed a habit of buying cut-to-order RTE foods at the delicatessen department of a supermarket, or at the open market (Table 3). Having all this in mind and due to the fact that cut-to-order foods are recognized as more risky foods, cluster 2 was labelled “Unconcerned consumers”.

Attitudes towards chilled RTE foods

In general, chilled RTE foods are characterized as risky due to characteristics that permit the growth of L. monocytogenes (Kovačević et al. 2012; Luber et al. 2011; Uyttendaele et al. 2009). Pre-packaged sliced meat products, soft cheeses, smoked fish, sandwiches, processed meat products, etc. are among these foods. However, pre-packaged chilled RTE foods are considered less risky when compared to retail-sliced or cut-to-order foods handled in commercial establishments e.g. delicatessen stores or supermarkets (Endrikat et al. 2010; Gallagher et al. 2016; Garrido et al. 2009; Gombas et al. 2003). Our results showed that “Precautious consumers” were significantly more convinced than “Unconcerned consumers” that pre-packaged RTE foods are safer than cut-to-order (Table 4). They also viewed purchasing of cut-to-order RTE foods at the delicatessen department in a supermarket or at the open market as significantly less safe than it was for “Unconcerned consumers”. This is in line with their habit of predominantly buying various chilled RTE foods, already pre-packaged by the food producers. Cluster 1 (“Precautious consumers”) consisted mostly with people from Bosnia and Herzegovina, India, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Turkey, and their positive attitudes towards safety of pre-packaged foods is in line with their general habits of buying foods in large grocery stores and supermarkets, which can be seen as precautionary and preventive. The official epidemiological data indicated the incidence rate of listerosis in countries like Spain, Portugal and Poland was relatively high, being on the average 0.72, 0.47 and 0.28 per 100,000 population per year (EFSA 2021). Although consumers are not expected to read and analyze statistical data, the higher incidence rates in these countries can indirectly lead to more information covering this issue in the media. It is important to note that one of the greatest European outbreak caused by L. monocytogenes contaminated RTE meat products resulted in more than 200 confirmed cases and 3 deaths (Fernández-Martínez et al. 2022). Also, in Portugal contaminated cheese induced an outbreak with more than 30 cases and 1 death (Magalhães et al. 2015). The importance of Listeria prevention in RTE foods may be also attributed to the fact that Poland is an important producer of RTE foods for European market (Szymczak et al. 2020), and one Listeria outbreak was caused by smoked salmon produced in Poland (EFSA 2018). The media attention for these outbreaks may indirectly raise awareness among consumers and make them more precaution. Note that Turkey and India do not have an active surveillance system covering the incidence of listeriosis, and in Bosnia no cases of listeriosis have been previously reported (Musa et al. 2020).

Table 4.

Attitudes towards RTE foods distributed within the whole population and within 2 clusters

Attitudes related to RTE foods Overall (n = 2723) Cluster 1 “precautious consumers” (n = 1434) Cluster 2 “unconcerned consumers”
(n = 1289)
I believe that pre-packed* RTE dairy products* are safer than cut-to-order 3.68 ± 1.18 3.76 ± 1.15a 3.59 ± 1.21b
I believe that pre-packed* RTE meat products** are safer than cut-to-order 3.41 ± 1.27 3.48 ± 1.26a 3.34 ± 1.28b
I believe that is safe to purchase cut-to-order RTE dairy products* at the open market/open bazaar 2.86 ± 1.18 2.71 ± 1.18a 3.03 ± 1.17b
I believe that is safe to purchase cut-to-order RTE meat products** at the open market/open bazaar 2.78 ± 1.23 2.63 ± 1.22a 2.96 ± 1.22b
I believe that is safe to purchase cut-to-order RTE dairy products* at the delicatessen department in the supermarket 3.68 ± 1.00 3.55 ± 1.05a 3.82 ± 0.93b
I believe that is safe to purchase cut-to-order RTE meat products** at the delicatessen department in the supermarket 3.7 ± 1.00 3.54 ± 1.05a 3.87 ± 0.90b
It is important to check the expiration date of pre-packed RTE dairy and meat products, during purchasing 4.66 ± 0.83 4.71 ± 0.76a 4.60 ± 0.91b
The expiration date of pre-packed and cut-to-order RTE dairy and meat products is the same 2.34 ± 1.27 2.31 ± 1.29 2.37 ± 1.25
I know the shelf-life and storage conditions of cut-to-order RTE dairy products* from the open market/open bazaar 2.72 ± 1.32 2.73 ± 1.34 2.71 ± 1.29
I know the shelf-life and storage conditions of cut-to-order RTE meat products** from the open market/open bazaar 2.71 ± 1.32 2.68 ± 1.33 2.75 ± 1.30
I know the shelf-life and storage conditions of cut-to-order RTE dairy products* from the delicatessen department in the supermarket 3.34 ± 1.24 3.31 ± 1.26 3.37 ± 1.21
I know the shelf-life and storage conditions of cut-to-order RTE meat products** from the delicatessen department in the supermarket 3.38 ± 1.25 3.32 ± 1.28a 3.45 ± 1.21b
It is important to store pre-packed RTE products according to storage instructions to ensure that it is safe to eat 4.57 ± 0.77 4.59 ± 0.76 4.55 ± 0.78
Ensuring a refrigerator runs at ≤ 5 °C is essential for maintaining the safety of RTE products 3.97 ± 1.12 4.01 ± 1.12a 3.92 ± 1.13b
It is essential to store different types of RTE products on separate shelves in the refrigerator to avoid contamination 3.99 ± 1.13 4.06 ± 1.10a 3.91 ± 1.16b
An unopened pre-packed sliced cooked ham, 2 days past its use-by date is still safe to eat 2.68 ± 1.37 2.68 ± 1.37 2.69 ± 1.38
An opened pre-packed sliced cooked ham is safe to eat as long as it is within the use-by date 2.98 ± 1.35 2.92 ± 1.37a 3.05 ± 1.32b
Cut-to-order sliced cooked ham from the supermarket delicatessen is only safe to eat for max. 2 days after purchase 3.24 ± 1.24 3.14 ± 1.26a 3.35 ± 1.21b
Sliced cooked ham out of the refrigerator is safe to eat as long as they are eaten on the same day 3.06 ± 1.39 3.16 ± 1.41a 2.94 ± 1.36b
I judge if RTE dairy products* are safe to eat based on the smell, taste or appearance 3.63 ± 1.25 3.57 ± 1.28a 3.69 ± 1.21b
I judge if RTE meat products** are safe to eat based on the smell, taste or appearance 3.54 ± 1.27 3.47 ± 1.31a 3.63 ± 1.22b
It is better to discard RTE dairy* and meat** after expiration date than to risk eating unsafe food 4.38 ± 1.00 4.38 ± 1.01 4.38 ± 0.99
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Values represent mean values (± standard deviation) of the Likert scale (1 – disagree strongly; 2 – disagree; 3 – no opinion; 4 – agree; 5 – agree strongly)

a,b Values within a row with identical letters were significantly different (p < 0.05), as determined by Mann Whitney U test

*Examples of RTE dairy products are fresh cheese, white brined cheese, kaymak/butter

**Examples of RTE meat products are sliced cooked, fermented or dried meat products

Based on our results, people in cluster 2 (“Unconcerned consumers”) believed that it was safe to buy cut-to-order RTE foods at the delicatessen department in a supermarket. When these participants have been asked about the safety of buying dairy and meat RTE foods at the open market, they were mostly neutral, but still significantly more agreeing compared to “Precautious consumers”. This is in line with results reported for UK consumers, who have no concerns regarding food safety of various products from farmers’ market (Worsfold et al. 2004). Note that a very small percentage of the total population that participated in this study regularly purchase dairy and meat RTE foods at the open market (Table 2). Open markets or sometimes called farmer markets are convenient places to purchase foods due to close location, the person-to-person interaction with the sellers, and the quality and freshness of the food, which is perceived to be better than at the supermarket. These markets are especially important for older consumers, as they have shopped there for years and often have developed a close relationship with the sellers (Polimeni et al. 2018). These have remained important places for purchasing local foods in eastern European countries (Polimeni et al. 2018), despite the competition from the supermarkets and industrially processed foods (Lovre and Brankov 2015).

In this study, participants in cluster 2 (“Unconcerned consumers”) came mostly from Croatia, Serbia and Slovenia, holding food traditions and loyalty to local shops and open markets in high regard . This is in line with a study by Miloradovic et al. (2021), where greater percentage of consumers from Serbia and Croatia purchased artisan cheeses at the open markets compared to Spanish consumers. Nevertheless, some of these markets with a wide variety of foods are regarded as high-risk for dairy, meat and fish products (Sirsat et al. 2015). Specific processing and handling measures, time and temperature control are needed ensure the safety of the products sold to the consumers, and this is especially important for unpackaged and unwrapped RTE foods. Therefore, it is essential to design and develop training material to increase awareness and improve knowledge of the consumers regarding RTE foods sold at the open market. This is especially important, having in mind the latest European initiatives for resurgence of small producers, local foods and consequently local open markets, and in general short supply chain (Carey et al. 2011; Kneafsey et al. 2013; Warsaw et al. 2021). However, the incidence rate of listeriosis in Serbia and Croatia was reported to be lower than those in cluster 1, with average 0.12 and 0.13 per 100,000 population per year and no previous big outbreak (EFSA 2021; Institute of public health of Serbia 2019). This might explain the relaxed attitudes of the consumers in this cluster. On contrary, the incidence rate of listeriosis in Slovenia was higher, with 0.8 cases per 100,000 population per year (EFSA 2021), in line with the situation in countries belonging to cluster 1. These results might be related to the fact that Slovenian consumers were almost equally divided among the 2 clusters (Table 2).

To restrict the growth of any food-borne pathogen, but in particular to inhibit the growth of L. monoytogenes, temperature has to be controlled throughout distribution and storage, both at the retail and consumers’ settings. The food producers are responsible to provide necessary information on the food label, such as recommended temperature of storage and the shelf-life (EC 2002; EU 2011). Cluster 1 was more aware of the need to check the expiration date on the food package and to adequately store RTE foods according to the producers’ instructions than cluster 2 (p < 0.05). Despite the positive attitudes of cluster 1 towards these issues, the question is whether product declarations always provide sufficiently detailed information, especially when it comes to risky products. Results from a Belgian study reported that food labels of refrigerated RTE foods often lack any (5.7%) or specific (2.7%) recommendations about storage conditions (Ceuppens et al. 2016). The same study also showed that the most frequent recommended storage temperature on food labels was 7 °C, followed by 4 °C (Ceuppens et al. 2016). Nevertheless, domestic storage of chilled foods is highly variable and frequently performed at the temperatures higher than recommended (James et al. 2017; Jofré et al. 2019; Jovanovic et al. 2022; Koutsoumanis et al. 2010; Roccato et al. 2017). The results obtained in this study showed that for “Precautious consumers” ensuring temperature below 5 °C and adequate separation of foods in domestic refrigerators was significantly more important for safety of RTE foods than for “Unconcerned consumers” (p < 0.05). Therefore, it is important to adequately inform and educate consumers about the importance of temperature control in their households, as the improvement of the domestic refrigerators’ temperature is seen as potential mitigation strategy for the reduction of number of listeriosis cases (Tsaloumi et al. 2021).

Modified atmosphere packaging is usually applied to food products to prolong shelf-life of RTE foods, by preventing growth and/or survival of various food-borne pathogens (Czerwiński et al. 2021; Kramarenko et al. 2016). However, once the package is stored open for a period of time, a potential outgrowth of present microflora is likely. Food legislation requires a list of mandatory information to be given for the pre-packaged food products, and appropriate storage instructions and/or time limit for consumption after opening should be indicted only “where appropriate” (EU 2011; Serbia 2017; Tsaloumi et al. 2021). This leaves the food producers to decide themselves if they are going to provide information on the safe storage after opening or not. The UK Food Standard Agency have issued the recommendation to limit the shelf-life of RTE deli meats up to 2 days after opening at 5 °C (FSA 2022), while the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) indicated a storage period for deli meats after opening to be 3–5 days at 5 °C (USDA-FSIS 2016). It is worth noting that the difference in recommended period of opened storage is most likely related to difference in setting criteria on L. monocytogenes in these products. US legislation applies “zero tolerance” approach for L. monocytogenes in RTE meat and poultry products (USDA-FSIS 2014), while EU uses a “risk-based” approach, considering acceptable values to be below 100 CFU/g throughout the entire shelf-life (EU 2005; Neri et al. 2019). The consumers from this study have been asked to indicate the level of agreement for the statement: “An opened pre-package of sliced cooked ham is safe to eat as long as it is within the use-by date”. The average level of agreement for “Precaution consumers” was lower compared to “Unconcerned consumers” (Table 4). The lack of available information on the package of chilled RTE foods might explain the obtained results. Almost 80% of food labels from Belgium market contained no indication of the remaining shelf-life after opening the package (Ceuppens et al. 2016). To confirm this and to make adequate base for improvements in this field, further studies are needed to determine the necessary information on chilled RTE foods for the participating countries of this survey.

When it comes to the shelf-life of cut-to-order RTE foods, our results indicated that consumers from all involved countries did not know the shelf-life and storage instructions. Food legislation around the world requires a list of mandatory information to be given for the pre-packaged food products (EU 2011; India 2011; Off Gaz 2017; Official Gazette 2017). Nevertheless, according to EU regulation for non-pre-packaged foods the consumers must be provided with only limited information such as the name of food, allergens, a meat content (for meat products) and an irradiated food statement (for irradiated foods) (EU 2011). Therefore, it is not surprising that the population investigated in this study does not know the shelf-life of cut-to-order RTE foods, either bought at the delicatessen or at the open market, and no difference was determined among the two identified clusters (p > 0.05). Their perception and personal assessment will be the only available tool to judge the shelf-life duration of these risky foods. Having all above in mind, it can be concluded that cluster 1 consists of consumers that prefer cut-to-order RTE foods, are exposed to higher risks of foodborne illnesses, due to the risky nature of these products, as well as due to unavailability of storage instructions and time limitation for the home storage. The attitudes of cluster 2 can be seen as more traditionalist and oriented towards local markets, but at the same time more careless and unconcerned. This is further confirmed through their attitudes regarding the assessment of edibility of food products, as they were significantly more convinced that food safety of chilled dairy and meat RTE foods can be judged based on the appearance, smell or food taste, compared to the cluster 1 (p < 0.05). This is in line with other reported studies, which showed that consumers often use visually, olfactory and tasting factors combined with the shelf-life date to decide if they are going to consume food or not (Van Boxstael et al. 2014).

Self-reported practices towards chilled RTE foods

Not only the attitudes, but also the results of self-reported practices indicated less risky behavior from cluster 1 compared to cluster 2 (Table 5). In line with their opinion that the expiration date of the food products is important for food safety, cluster 1 checked the expiration date of RTE foods significantly more often during purchasing and before food consumption, compared to cluster 2 (Table 5).

Table 5.

Self-reported practices related to RTE foods within the whole population and within 2 clusters

Self-reported practices related to RTE foods Overall
(n = 2723)		 “Precautious consumers” (n = 1434) “Unconcerned consumers”
(n = 1289)
When purchasing, I check the expiration date of pre-packed RTE dairy products* 4.58 ± 0.85 4.61 ± 0.83a 4.55 ± 0.86b
When purchasing, I check the expiration date of pre-packed RTE meat products** 4.50 ± 0.94 4.52 ± 0.96 4.48 ± 0.91
I ask the seller at the open market/open bazaar, how to safely store white brined cheese at home 2.71 ± 1.55 2.77 ± 1.58a 2.64 ± 1.52b
I ask the seller at the open market/open bazaar, for how long I can safely store fresh cheese at home 2.69 ± 1.55 2.74 ± 1.57 2.63 ± 1.52
Immediately after purchasing, I put RTE dairy and meat products in the refrigerator 4.68 ± 0.78 4.70 ± 0.77 4.66 ± 0.78
I regularly measure the temperature in my refrigerator at home 2.78 ± 1.46 2.88 ± 1.48a 2.68 ± 1.43b
In my home refrigerator, RTE meat and dairy products are placed on separate shelves from fresh fruits/vegetables 3.99 ± 1.23 4.15 ± 1.18a 3.80 ± 1.26b
Before eating, I analyze the expiration date of pre-packed RTE dairy products* 4.29 ± 1.05 4.37 ± 1.02a 4.20 ± 1.08b
Before eating, I analyze expiration date of pre-packed RTE meat products** 4.21 ± 1.12 4.28 ± 1.10a 4.13 ± 1.15b
Before eating, I judge the safety of RTE dairy products* by appearance, taste or smell 4.14 ± 1.13 4.10 ± 1.17 4.18 ± 1.07
Before eating, I judge the safety of RTE meat products** by appearance, taste or smell 4.09 ± 1.19 4.03 ± 1.26 4.16 ± 1.11
I discard RTE dairy products* after its expiration date 4.21 ± 1.11 4.27 ± 1.08a 4.14 ± 1.14b
I discard RTE meat products** after its expiration date 4.26 ± 1.10 4.34 ± 1.06a 4.17 ± 1.13b
When RTE dairy products* expire, I use them to prepare cooked meals (cheese pies/corn pies) 2.04 ± 1.36 1.97 ± 1.34a 2.12 ± 1.38b
When RTE meat products** expire, I use them to prepare cooked meals (pizza/rolls) 1.82 ± 1.25 1.80 ± 1.26 1.84 ± 1.25
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Values represent mean values (± standard deviation) of the Likert scale (1 – never; 2 – rarely; 3 – sometimes; 4 – often; 5 – always)

a,b Values within a row with identical letters were significantly different (p < 0.05), as determined by Mann Whitney U test

*Examples of RTE dairy products are fresh cheese, white brined cheese, kajmak/butter

**Examples of RTE meat products: sliced cooked, fermented or dried meat products

It is important to assure that cross contamination between RTE and raw foods is prevented, and that household refrigerators are clean and operating at correct temperature (Jackson et al. 2007; Vegara et al. 2014). The results obtained in this study have indicated that cluster 1 checked the temperature and separated foods more often to prevent cross contamination in their domestic refrigerators compared to members of cluster 2 (p < 0.05). The overall variability of temperature in domestic refrigerators is reported to be in the range 7.0 ± 2.7 °C in Southern and 6.1 ± 2.8 °C in Northern European countries (Roccato et al. 2017). These temperatures are capable of supporting the growth of different food-borne pathogens especially for RTE foods stored for the extended period of time (Jackson et al. 2007).

Food that smells or tastes bad or shows an unusual appearance is mostly contaminated with spoilage microorganisms, while the presence of food-borne pathogens leave no obvious sign of contamination. Cluster 2 more often judged safety of chilled RTE foods based on the appearance, smell or food taste, compared to cluster 1, although the difference was not statistically significant. They were not aware that color, smell or appearance of food would not exclude food contamination (Carbas et al. 2013; Djekic et al. 2014; Martins et al. 2012; Smigic et al. 2016).

Cluster 1 significantly more often had the habit of discarding RTE foods after expiration date then cluster 2 (p < 0.05). Cluster 2 showed some concern related to the usage after the expired date of RTE foods for the preparation of some cooked meals, although the overall concern was low (Table 5). Along with this, reports show a general lack of understanding the terms to define shelf-life, including the misinterpretation of “best before” and “use by” date (Hall-Phillips and Shah 2017; Van Boxstael et al. 2014). Therefore, consumers who do not adequately understand information given on the food label are more prone to take risky actions at their own households. As already mentioned, the obligation to provide shelf-life and storage instruction is only applicable for pre-packaged chilled RTE foods, while there is no obligation for such information for cut-to-order foods. This leaves consumers to be even more self-reliant, which is also riskier in terms of foodborne illnesses.

This study has included consumers from 9 different countries that were selected by convenience. However, including northern European countries or countries from other continents would widen the complete picture. Limitation of this study is mainly related to variable number of participants obtained from each country, leading to different representations, although the overall number of participant was high. Also, practices towards RTE foods have been only assessed from the perspective of the consumers themselves, which might differ from their actual behavior at home. Finally, it would be interesting to investigate the influence of the income level on their preference towards purchasing of pre-packed or cut-to-order, having in mind the fact that the former is a more expensive food product. Note that participants from countries included in this study may have different financial status, cultural settings, family customs, purchase habits, and many other sociological factors which might influence the obtained data.

Conclusion

This research was conducted in different countries of the world, which are geographical dislocated. Consumers from these countries show substantial differences in diet, food products they buy, place of buying them and the way they consume them. Nevertheless, common shortcomings and difficulties were identified, and might be utilized for setting the recommendations at multinational level. This study contributes to the literature on chilled RTE foods by showing consumer habits towards both the purchasing place and the form of RTE foods, as well as country of origin to effectively discriminate between consumers’ segments. The obtained results allow better understating of consumers’ characterization of RTE foods in different countries. The obtained results can be exploited threefold. Firstly, it is important to raise the level of awareness for all consumers, and most specifically of the “Unconcerned consumers” in cluster 2, using easily assessable advertisements/leaflets related to chilled RTE foods. Awareness-raising campaigns distributed through social networks might have significant contribution to improve their home practices and consequently reducing risk. In addition, it is of ultimate importance to increase consumers’ understanding of food labels. Secondly, along with the increased awareness of all consumers, it is also needed to facilitate and improve messages that come from the food producers and are directed towards consumers. Undoubtedly, inconsistencies or lack of adequate instructions to be applied at home settings might result in consumers’ ignorance of given information and activities that will be based solely on the personal beliefs and principles. In that sense, simple, uniform and targeted food labels can certainly make consumers easier to accept and consequently to follow particular instructions. Thirdly, it is important to emphases the role of retailers who are cutting and slicing RTE foods for individual consumers. Their role is very important to ensuring the safety of foods, as they operate in conditions of increased risk of contamination, which can be further transferred to foods sold to the consumers. Due to the lack of instructions regarding time and storage conditions of cut-to-order RTE foods, retailers must ensure that their customers are informed in any way about how to safely store these foods at home. Although the risk of contamination and the possibility of pathogen growth/survival are dependent on the food product itself, it is important to establish some minimum conditions that are common to different products and easily acceptable to different consumers. It is important to prevent situation in which consumers are left without adequate information how to handle RTE foods at their homes.

CRediT authorship contribution statement

NS: Conceptualization, investigation, methodology, visualization, writing—original draft; SO: writing—review and editing; VMG-L: writing—review and editing; SMO: writing—review and editing; ZM: investigation, methodology, visualization, writing—review and editing, BA: writing—review and editing; JM: writing—review and editing; SS-M: writing—review and editing; AK: writing—review and editing; RG: writing—review and editing; JCG: writing—review and editing; JT: writing—review and editing; EC-S: writing—review and editing; GG: writing—review and editing; MB: writing—review and editing; DH: writing—review and editing; AN: writing—review and editing; AM: writing—review and editing; ID: investigation, methodology, visualization, writing—review and editing.

Declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Footnotes

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

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