Dual quality of food products: what from a marketing perspective?

Some European countries have introduced the problem of dual quality, claiming that a part of companies sell in some European markets (especially in Eastern Europe) food of lower quality than in other countries, despite the packaging and branding being identical. This theme has generated an international debate - involving practitioners, researchers and media - which provides for a multidisciplinary approach. We think it is important to analyze the dual quality topic also from a marketing perspective. Therefore, this conceptual paper aims to understand the food products quality from the consumer's point of view, in the hypothesis that understanding the factors that affect perceived quality can be useful to deepen the theme and hypothesize solutions. The paper aims to generate a reflection on the theme of dual quality: the reflection includes the perceptions of the consumer and the consumer behavior, and also considers the marketing perspective.