The COVID-19 outbreak forced national governments to the adoption of social distancing and movement limitation measures aimed to reduce the diffusion of the virus and to mitigate its highly disruptive impact on the healthcare systems. Reduced income, job insecurity, distribution system interruptions, product shortages, localized price hikes, and time availability resulted in changes in food-related behaviors of households, including food waste generation. Although the significant progress achieved in the understanding of the multidimensional determinants of food losses and waste, no study has been considering the role of uncertainty generated by exogenous generalized shocks on consumer behavior. Building on an original and nationally representative survey, this work aims to investigate the impact of the measures introduced to contain the outbreak of COVID-19 on the main behavioral factors underpinning household food waste generation. The study develops a theoretical model introducing uncertainty validated through a Structural Equations Modelling approach. Results showed that during the quarantine period declared household food waste decreased, with more than half of the respondents reporting to waste less. The model suggested that the amount of material and non-material resources that consumers can dedicate to food-related activities represents the most influential factor for the generation of household food waste and that uncertainty is significantly affecting the drivers and indirectly influencing the self-declared values of food waste. Results suggest several potential policy implications, of which the most relevant being related to the importance of stimulating improvements in food management opportunities at home.

COVID-19 的爆发迫使各国政府采取社会疏远和行动限制措施，旨在减少病毒的传播并减轻其对医疗保健系统的高度破坏性影响。收入减少、工作不稳定、分配系统中断、产品短缺、局部价格上涨和时间可用性导致家庭与食物相关的行为发生变化，包括产生食物浪费。尽管在理解粮食损失和浪费的多维决定因素方面取得了重大进展，但尚无研究考虑外生普遍冲击所产生的不确定性对消费者行为的作用。基于一项原创且具有全国代表性的调查，这项工作旨在调查为遏制 COVID-19 爆发而采取的措施对支持家庭食物垃圾产生的主要行为因素的影响。该研究开发了一个理论模型，引入了通过结构方程建模方法验证的不确定性。结果显示，在检疫期间，宣布的家庭食物垃圾有所减少，超过一半的受访者报告说浪费较少。该模型表明，消费者可以投入与食品相关活动的物质和非物质资源的数量是家庭食物垃圾产生的最有影响力的因素，不确定性正在显着影响驱动因素并间接影响自我声明的价值食物浪费。结果表明几个潜在的政策影响，