Religious heterogeneity of food consumers: The impact of global markets upon methods of production

The production and distribution of food is a topic of perennial interest. Specific concern arises over the provision of foods that have been prepared in accordance with religious requirements because they place additional demands and constraints upon methods of food production and distribution. This paper explores the attitude of consumers towards the method of production of food that has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of their own and other faiths. Consumer's gender, age, education level, and the degree of respondent religiosity are all found to be influential. Furthermore, the assumption that such foods are acceptable to nonreligious people is flawed. This study advances our understanding of the role of religiosity upon consumer behaviour. It makes a unique investigation of attitudes towards food that has been prepared in accordance with religious requirements and finds that consumer religion is an important demographic but that the degree of religiosity and other attitudes, such as those towards animal husbandry, are also important factors that need to be taken into account during production and retailing. Such polydoxicity has implications for marketing systems concerned with the production and consumption of religiously prepared foodstuff. This research concludes that religious consumers are a highly heterogeneous group. Although interfaith differences may be obvious and expected, intrafaith differences also exist.