2.1.1. Adulterated food According to Attrey (2017), “Adulterant” means, any substance that is or may be used to make the food unhealthy, inferior, misbranded, or containing extraneous matter. Food adulteration is a very old and widespread problem that is frequently seen in low-economic areas such as Bangladesh. Hazardous chemicals including sodium cyclamate, cyanide, calcium carbide, and formalin are used for ripening, keeping new, and storing green tropical fruits before they are offered. Low-cost textile dyes are used to dye vegetables, fruits, common sweetmeats, soft drinks, beverages, confectioneries to attract the attention of customers. Fishmongers retain formalin-fish to hold the body firm in order to cover up internal decomposition. These intakes of chemically modified foods can cause complex diseases and have direct implications such as liver and kidney failure, autism, metabolic dysfunctions and cancer (Mohammad et al., 2018). 2.1.2. Organic food: fish In the existing literature, definitions of organic food may vary depending on the country and context. For example, according to Canadian respondents, “organic foods are products that contain no chemical, fertilizer, genetically modified organisms, pesticides, hormones or antibiotics; are neither packaged nor processed; cause no harm to animals; require no injections for animals; are nutritious, tasty and colourful; stay fresh longer; and were produced in labour oriented production companies” (Hamzaoui Essoussi & Zahaf, 2008). Hoefkens et al. (2009) indicated that Flemish consumers perceive organic food as less contaminated, healthier, safer and containing more nutrients than conventional food, having surveyed 529 consumers and applied statistical analysis to examine the components. In the context of France, Kouba (2003) further confirmed that “organic animal products have lower levels of veterinary drugs and pesticides”. According to the definition of organic food suggested by The Codex Alimentarius—which is a set of globally accepted food health and food quality principles, codes of practice, guidelines and other recommendations—organic food comes from an organic farm system that supports the ecosystem (Alimentarius, 2020). In the context of Bangladesh, organic fish can be referred to as “deshi”, i.e. indigenous fish, that are caught in the wild or organically farmed and produced by intensive monoculture (Mohammad, 2019). From the above definitions, it can be concluded that organic fish come from a water source that relies on ecological processes and no undue chemicals are applied to them. Therefore, organic fish can be referred to as safe food (Liu et al., 2013). This is the definition used in this study. 2.1.3. Consciousness: Consciousness towards our eating habits has been given much consideration as a way to safeguard humans against COVID-19 (Miles, 2020). Therefore, this study considers this factor as a major aspect of the attributes of organic foods. To put it simply, this study argues that when consumers feel dissonance about whether they should buy organic or farmed fish, consumers still prefer to buy organic fish—which is the same basis of the theory of cognitive dissonance. As per the theory, when consumers feel dissonance, they may change the behavior or attitude (Yan et al., 2008). 2.1.4. Social-distancing Social distancing, also known as physical distancing, is the act of leaving appropriate space between people and in stores while shopping (Dickson & MacLachlan, 1990). It also means avoiding close contact with others during an infectious disease epidemic in order to mitigate exposure and reduce infectious transmission (Staff, 2020). De Vos (2020) further described social distancing as reducing interactions between individuals to slow down the spread of the virus. In the context of this study, social-distance purchasing can be described as purchasing products while consumers are at least one metre (or three feet) apart from other consumers or staff (World Health Organization, 2020b) in order to reduce the contagious transmission of COVID-19. It was also essential to identify and examine the literature that is pertinent to the aim of the study. It is worth mentioning that a significant number of researches have been published on Covid 19 in the current literature. However, limited studies have focused on Covid 19 and organic or green food purchasing research. In the following section, the research provides a snapshot of the existing literature on the research issues, justifying the reasons of choosing the constructs of the study under the separate heading: 2.2. Organic foods’ attributes Aspects of the green movement include ecological thinking and sustainability (Dangelico & Pontrandolfo, 2010), which are the same as the bases for organic food. In addition, Liu et al. (2013) have synonymously used green food and organic food. Therefore, this study includes and reviews studies related to organic and green food–purchasing intention. It is evident that organic and green–food research is very rigorous, and many studies have dealt with important factors that affect the demand of the food (Rana & Paul, 2017). In this study, we review articles in order to select the most important and common attributes of organic food, which have been suggested by other researchers over the last three decades. However, in the existing literature, health benefits are found one of the most important attributes of organic or green food suggested by a significant number of studies. 2.2.1. Health-benefit consciousness Health benefits are extremely important attributes that have an impact on the intention to purchase organic food, as indicated by the majority of organic food studies (Prince, 2019; Rana & Paul, 2017). For example, Hwang (2016) found that food safety concerns are key motives behind the purchase of organic food by older consumers in the US. Basha and Lal (2019) indicate that health benefits are also an important determinant that motivates Indian consumers to purchase organic food. Magistris and Gracia (2008) applied a structural equation model (SEM) to 200 consumers and report that health issues have a positive impact on the purchasing of organic food by Italian consumers. Mondelaers et al. (2009) confirm that Flemish consumers prefer organic food for health-related reasons, as discovered during an experimental survey of 527 respondents. The idea that consumers’ intention to purchase organic food is positively linked to their health and safety issues is further supported by Truong et al. (2012), having surveyed 264 Vietnamese consumers to produce results. Sampaio and Gosling (2014) report a positive effect on the intent to purchase organic food by Brazilian consumers. Padel and Foster (2005) also indicate that the fundamental principle that drives British consumers to purchase organic foods is a balanced diet. Janssen (2018) confirms that healthiness and naturalness are the most influential drivers of organic-food consumption in Germany.