respectively, means that the ideal production process “must” take care
of specific practices and “avoid” others. The attributes were presented
to the respondents, who were asked to indicate the most relevant attri-
butes for their imagined ideal vegetable production process.
For each step in the production chain, an importance weight coeffi-
cient was calculated. An initial response to the results was that the dif-
ferences in importance attached to chain processes were rather small.
All steps were given similar importance by the consumers. Neverthe-
less, it was perceived that greatest importance was associated with those
processes with which the consumer had the greatest familiarity through
their own experiences in vegetable production: tillage or soil cultivation,
harvesting and vegetable preparation.
With respect to the soil, consumers stressed that the soil must be pure
and carefully cultivated. Treatments with pesticides and, to a lesser ex-
tent, chemical fertilizers were not accepted for the ideal vegetable pro-
duction process. Soil purity was statistically more likely to be mentioned
by typical consumers of glass and canned vegetables than by others. The
seed for the ideal vegetable production must be of premium quality and
should not be treated or coated with pesticides. In addition, about a quar-
ter of the respondents indicated that the seed should not be genetically
engineered. The growth process must be under permanent control. Again
reservations about the use of pesticides were the major concern, together
with the rejection of any kind of sprays on the vegetables. The harvest-
ing process must be conducted at the right moment, especially not too
late. Care should also be given to avoid damaging the vegetables dur-
ing the harvest.
During processing, special attention must be paid to careful washing
of the vegetables and to strictly minimize the storage period between
harvesting and processing. Consumers of canned and glass vegetables
attached significantly more importance to “not supplying vitamins” dur-
ing the processing of the vegetables. During preparation, loss of taste,
vitamins and minerals should be avoided. This topic was significantly
more stressed by frozen and fresh-vegetable consumers. Finally, all fam-
ily members must appreciate the ideal vegetable as it is served.
The identified topics from a consumer viewpoint for the ideal veg-
etable production chain reveal both key factors for successful improve-
ment of the processes in the processed-vegetable chain and relevant
topics for communication with consumers around chains. It is obvious
that some topics related to the production process, such as manual labor
Perception of Fresh and Processed Vegetables 261