麻豆淫院

Household food waste, a focus of government targets, supermarket campaigns and consumer nudges, is best reduced by fostering lasting habits of frugality and not short-term interventions, according to new research by the University of Portsmouth.

The , published in Food Quality and Preference, tested whether the use of subtle cues such as words or images to encourage people to "save" or "reuse"鈥攌nown as frugal priming鈥攃ould influence food waste behavior.

95 participants were exposed to either frugal or materialistic prompts before completing a food-saving task. Researchers found no significant effect of frugal priming on participants' willingness to avoid waste. Instead, the strongest predictor of food-saving behavior was habitual frugality鈥攊ndividuals' long-standing tendency to conserve resources and avoid unnecessary purchases.

The study also revealed that people with high frugal tendencies were less swayed by materialistic cues, which otherwise increased wastefulness among participants with low frugality.

"Our findings suggest that quick nudges and priming cues are not enough to shift food waste behavior," said Steven Iorfa, lead author and Ph.D. research student at the University of Portsmouth. "It's people's ingrained, everyday frugal habits that make the real difference."

The research comes at a time of huge global challenges. The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that a third of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted, even as more than 2.3 billion people faced food insecurity in 2023. With the world population projected to reach 9.6 billion by 2050, reducing waste is seen as vital for food security, environmental sustainability and achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The research findings raise questions about the effectiveness of common interventions such as awareness campaigns or restaurant menu nudges. While previous studies suggested that frugal messaging could curb waste, the new research indicates that such strategies may only work if they tap into pre-existing frugal values.

Instead, the authors argue, policymakers and campaigners should focus on cultivating long-term cultural norms around frugality, for example, through education, community engagement, and policies that de-emphasize materialism.

"Frugality is more than a budgeting tactic," said Steven Iorfa. "It's a mindset that encourages people to see waste as inconsistent with their values. If we want lasting change, we need to promote frugality as a social norm, not just rely on one-off prompts."

The study highlights that reducing food waste is not simply a matter of regulation or consumer awareness, but of deeper behavioral change. By embedding frugality into everyday life, researchers argue, societies may have a better chance of cutting the billions of tonnes of food wasted globally each year.