Chronic diseases (e.g., heart disease, cancer, diabetes) are of major public concern. Such chronic diseases are often caused by a dietary pattern characterized as relatively high in fat, refined sugar, salt, and cholesterol. Societal interest in consuming healthy foods and the demand for healthy food products have increased significantly. As a result, functional foods have gained significant research attention in the food health and technology innovations field. To date, many studies have investigated the factors that may predict consumer acceptance of functional foods, and a wide range of influential factors have been reported. However, studies conducted in different contexts pose challenges to gaining a clear understanding of the factors influencing consumer acceptance. Therefore, the purpose of our scoping review was to synthesize the possible determinants of consumer acceptance toward functional foods and provide a resource that describes global trends regarding consumers’ functional foods behavior. We identified 75 articles published with varying populations around the globe that empirically investigated consumers’ acceptance of functional foods. We identified and categorized a wide range of determinants related to consumer acceptance of different types of functional foods. The five categories of determinants were product characteristics, socio-demographic characteristics, psychological characteristics, behavioral characteristics, and physical characteristics. Each of the determinants were more fully described by sub-determinants in our scoping review. These determinants should be considered and used by leaders and scientists in product development to aid decision making and, ultimately, the successful launch of novel functional foods.

Novel applications of nanotechnology in food processing hold tremendous potential to revolutionize the food industry and address challenges in food security and public health. Understanding and addressing consumers' evolving attitudes toward the use of nanotechnology in food processing is important to promote the technology's adoption and inform the development of regulatory frameworks that align with societal values. We used a survey research design to explore U.S. consumers' attitudes toward such uses of nanotechnology. Through the literature, we identified various cognitive and affective factors that have influenced, or have the potential to influence, consumers' attitudes, and we used those factors to develop a comprehensive regression model. We collected data from a national sample of U.S. consumers (N = 1071). The regression model accounted for 64.22% of the variance in attitudes toward nanotechnology (adjusted R² = 62.94%). Perceived benefits, subjective norms, institutional trust, and subjective knowledge significantly and positively influenced participants' attitudes toward the use of nanotechnology in food processing while perceived risks and food technology neophobia significantly and negatively influenced participants' attitudes. These results suggest that communication strategies should emphasize consumer-centric benefits of nanotechnology, mitigate perceived risks, leverage social influences, and prioritize food safety-related messaging from institutional bodies.

We sought to determine the perceived importance and development of agricultural students’ employability skills, and the factors and experiences that influence their development.We used a cross-sect...

Guided by the theory of planned behavior and the science communication learning goals model, we conducted a survey to identify science communication training needs of university scientists (n = 266) at a large US land-grant university. Results indicate that most respondents believed scientists and media relations offices were most responsible for communicating science to the public but only somewhat responsible for their learning of science communication or its outcomes. In addition, respondents who had higher levels of interest and enjoyment in science communication perceived their content knowledge to be higher and reflected on science communication concepts and processes better than respondents with lower levels of interest and enjoyment. We also found that scientists who participated in science communication training during the past three years enjoyed science communication more and were more likely to contribute than scientists who did not participate. Results suggest that communication training should focus on increasing scientists’ positive attitudes toward public engagement and motivating scientists to feel responsible for public engagement. Trainers should encourage scientists to share their communication experiences with colleagues, expose them to science communication resources, and help them recognize their individual role in the science communication process. .

The purpose of our correlational, quantitative study was to determine if time spent using digital media (i.e. text messaging and social media) influences students’ media writing self-perceptions (MWSPs). We measured students’ perceived writing ability using the MWSP scale and their time spent using digital media with the social networking time use scale (SONTUS). Correlations between students’ MWSP scores and SONTUS scores were statistically insignificant, suggesting that time spent using digital media does not negatively influence their perceived writing abilities. However, results from further analyses indicated that as students’ social media use increased, so did their ability to recognise the difference between writing for social media and writing for professional publications. We also found that the more students text the more they use social media and vice versa. We present directions for future research and practice.