The shelf offer of snacks legume-based snacks show substantial growth, thanks to Italian consumers' interest in healthy, often organic alternatives to potato chips and junk food.
A study published on Nutrients (Petrontino et al., 2023) examines the influence of ingredients and claims on labels on choice and willingness to pay higher prices. (1)
snacks legume-based, 177 products compared
The researchers of the Aldo Moro University of Bari and of the spin-off university spin-off Sinagri selected 177 snacks legume-based products offered between May and July 2022 in supermarkets, minimarket e discount in the Puglia region, as well as in stores online.
The sample is very heterogeneous, because:
- the price per 100g ranges from €0.73 to €3.53 (almost five times),
- the package weight varies between 40 and 240 grams,
- organic (organic certification) concerns 57.10% of the snacks.
Among the ingredients, the most common legume and flour types are chickpeas (65%) and corn (46.9%) respectively. Wheat flour appears in only 11.9% of the sample. Consequently, most of the snacks (78.5%) are gluten-free.
In most cases, the snacks is not fried (61%), not spiced (87%), and made with sunflower oil (70.1%).
Nutrition Claims, vegan
I nutrition claims are almost ubiquitous on the labeling of snacks legume-based products, with references to:
- low fat content (14.10%),
- source of protein (65%), (6)
- source of fiber (73.40%). (7)
The claim ‘vegan’ is present on one in four labels (25.40%).
On packagingMost products (81.90%) display the recyclability symbol of packaging.
Sales channels
Distribution of the snacks based on legumes on the different sales channels is structured as follows:
- e-commerce (52%),
- supermarkets (33.3%),
- neighborhood stores (5.60%),
- discount (5.60%),
- hypermarkets (3.40%).
Preferences of Italian consumers
The study highlights how the ingredients, the claims and the organic certification have a real influence on the purchasing choices of snacks based on legumes by Italian consumers. The propensity to purchase favors:
- legumes lentils and chickpeas, but not peas,
- the regional origin of the ingredients,
- the use of extra virgin olive oil, not sunflower oil or absence of oil,
- the replacement of wheat flour with potato flour and/or starch, gluten free,
- the recyclability of the packaging.
The experiment of discrete choice, that is a simulation of choice among three variants, instead shows in order the following priorities:
- organic certification,
- indication of regional origin,
- certified gluten-free.
Marta Strinati
Notes
(1) Petrontino, A.; Frem, M.; Fucilli, V.; Labbate, A.; Tria, E.; Bozzo, F. Ready-to-Eat Innovative Legumes Snack: The Influence of Nutritional Ingredients and Labelling Claims in Italian Consumers’ Choice and Willingness-to-Pay. Nutrients 2023, 15, 1799. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15071799
Professional journalist since January 1995, she has worked for newspapers (Il Messaggero, Paese Sera, La Stampa) and magazines (NumeroUno, Il Salvagente). Author of journalistic investigations on food, she published the book 'Reading labels to know what we eat'.
