Consumers' food choice and quality perception: Comparative analysis of selected Central European countries

Abstract

Food quality and safety belong to the most important factors of building the image of the product, brand, or country of origin at the local, regional or global markets. The main aim of the paper is to compare the food products quality perception in the selected countries of Central Europe: Poland, the Slovak Republic and the Czech Republic. Different aspects of the food products quality perception were considered during our research as food hygiene, product safety, taste, brand, quality mark and safety processes in food manufacturing. The methodical approaches of the paper are based on the questionnaire survey, and, consequently, the cluster analysis defining the consumer's perception typology. The computations were processed by using the statistical program SAS. The research results point at the food hygiene as the most important qualitative factor for the respondents in all three countries. On the other hand, the packing as a factor is considered as of either a less importance or an irrelevant one in terms of the product quality perception.