Survey of Canadian potato shoppers reveals conflicting results

According to a survey on table potatoes carried out by Nova Scotia Agricultural College (NSAC), consumers want to see the potatoes in the store. This means they want them in transparent packaging, but at the same time they don't want farmers to use plastic bags because of environmental concerns.

That is one of the results presented by Dr. Gefu Wang-Pruski, who headed the NSAC effort, at the Potatoes NB Trade Show and Conference.

"We used the ‘focus group' approach,"explained Dr. Wang-Pruski to potato industry stakeholders. "We chose the Truro area and we chose Halifax as the medium size city. Toronto was ‘the large city' in our survey."The study asked grocery shoppers what they wanted to see when they go in a store to buy potatoes. They talked about cooking with potatoes, purchasing behaviour, the in-store presentation of potatoes, and about innovative varieties.

"Most of the participants want to see fresh, firm, ripe, medium size, and white,"Dr. Wang-Pruski said, "and if the potatoes don't fit this mental frame, this is something they wouldn't choose. They also appreciate the wide use, the applications of the potatoes. They can be prepared in so many different ways and fit into many types of dishes."

"And the price is no big deal,"she said. "They don't really care about prices. They think the potato is cheap foodstuff. They would try new varieties but not on a daily basis. There are mixed views on value-added products. They don't like the overloaded packaging. They don't think it's necessary."