Consumer complaints associated with food quality

Abstract

Consumers in many countries express increased expectations associated with food quality. When their satisfaction is not achieved, they may raise a complaint. The main aim of this study was to analyze the overall perception of food quality and complaints associated with poor food quality. In parallel, this study categorized food quality and complaint attributes based on a Kano model. Finally, this research also examined food properties that are key contributors to consumer complaints as well as complaint resolution actions in handling complaints. To perform this research, a field survey was conducted with 844 interviewees from the Republic of Serbia. Food products perceived to be of the highest quality were spices, cereals, and confectioneries, opposed to meat and ready-to-eat meals scoring lowest. Food odor is recognized as a perfect dissatisfaction attribute (associated with food spoilage). A cluster analysis revealed two clusters dependent on age and education of the respondents. The ‘demanding consumers’ are not satisfied with taste, odor, color, and physical appearance of purchased food, opposed to the ‘tolerant consumers’ with no quality issues. The majority of respondents expects some compensation in case of complaints associated with poor quality but didn’t raise any oral or written complaints lately. In case of complaints, a perfect resolution action is product replacement. This survey revealed that taste and odor are highly ranked reasons for complaints, that the younger population is more tolerant to low quality and that the type of food is in correlation with complaints and perception of food quality.