Fruit and Vegetable Consumption Patterns: A Segmentation Approach

In this article, we study the heterogeneity of fruit and vegetable consumption patterns in France. A finite mixture of AIDS models is used to describe food demand patterns revealing different preferences over distinct classes. We obtained six different clusters, which reflect specific socio-demographic characteristics and different income and price elasticities. This approach is appropriate for targeting specific public nutritional policies. Our main results show that unlike the other clusters in which the usual price and income policy tools may be used, the lowest income cluster with the lowest consumption, remains insensitive to economic variables. Copyright Copyright 2008 American Agricultural Economics Association.