Consumer preference for label presentations of freshness, taste, and serving suggestion on fresh fish packages of Japanese flounder Paralichthys olivaceus

Understanding consumer choice behavior for seafood is important for the efficient and sustainable use of marine resources and the improvement of human health. This study aims to identify the information content that effectively motivates Japanese consumers to purchase fresh fish products. Group interviews with 12 consumers were conducted in September 2021 to collect qualitative information on consumer evaluations of the presentation of package labels for freshness, taste, and serving suggestion. Subsequently, data were collected through a web-based survey, administered to 3651 consumers in the Kanto area, Japan from October to November 2021. A latent class logit model was applied to the data to estimate the influence of product attributes and personal characteristics on the choice and willingness-to-pay for each product attribute. The consumers gave the highest rating to freshness labels. The taste label was evaluated highly by consumers in one class. The group interview showed that when the serving suggestion label recommending meunière use was presented, consumers associated it with the recommendation to heat the fish because of less freshness. The results of the choice experiment also showed that the “meunière” label was evaluated negatively. The consumer segment characterized by a high income and frequent purchases of fish tended to respond to all types of labels.