Parents’ trust in food safety and healthiness of children’s diets: A TPB model explaining the role of retailers and government

This study started from the assumption that children’s healthy diets are primarily determined by their parents and their intentions towards serving fruit and vegetables. Although it is widely known that a significant share in fruits and vegetables in children’s diets has several advantages, there are some safety issues that can act as barriers in promoting fruit and vegetable consumption. Therefore, we investigated parents’ determinants in giving fruits and vegetables to their children taking into account that the trust in actors who minimize the presence of risks could be instrumental to understand the whole story. Due to the incidence of childhood obesity, Southern Italy is a suitable case study. An extended Theory of Planned Behavior (tpb) model including trust towards government and retailers has been set up. Results suggested that parental intention to give to their children fruits and vegetables in primarily determined by their perceived behavioral control, then by their attitude and by subjective norm. Trust has been proved to influence parents’ intentions, but only related to retailers and not to government. Furthermore, the model positively explained childrens’ behavior reported by parents.