With the excessive exploitation of natural resources and environmental devastation, the notion of green consumerism has grown in popularity and has also gained global attention (Sachdeva et al., 2015; Akenji, 2014). According to several surveys, public awareness regarding sustainability and environmental concerns has steadily risen over time (Townsend, 2014). Food safety and security are major concerns these days due to consumers' growing awareness of the environmental effect based on their decisions (Yogananda & Nair, 2019).

Green foods are defined as safe and high-quality edible agriculture-based as well as processing-based goods which are farmed in an environmentally friendly manner and manufactured in accordance with the green food manufacturing standard (Roy & Nayak, 2022). Green food products are being attributed with several claims and zero waste and a sustainable choice are just a few of the sustainable claims that are increasingly appearing on green items today (Dauvergne & Lister, 2013). The adoption of green consumer behavior has changed the importance of numerous decision elements as well as customers' attitudes regarding product buying intent (Chen & Chai, 2010). Manufacturers react to growing consumer knowledge of sustainable products by emphasizing their own responsibility towards the environment in order to attract new customers. This development is not confined to producers in order to build the intent of customer to acquire these things. Green product retailers also recognize the value of commitment to the environment and have begun to modify the concept of retailing traditionally by shifting towards green tailing in order to distinguish themselves and compete effectively (Simpson & Radford, 2012). The observed scenario for green consumer behavior prior to the COVID-19 pandemic has been different. Despite the fact that various companies have launched green products, their success rate has been dismally low so far (Gleim & Lawson, 2014). Indeed, a significant gap has been observed between what individuals profess to feel about the environment and their subsequent activities, which is unexpected (Barbarossa & Pastore, 2015).

The emergence of the COVID-19 epidemic has had a vital impact on consumers’ habits and behaviors, ushering in a new era of consumerism that is perceived to be more sustainable and healthier (Perlman, 2020). The coronavirus infection (COVID-19) is still active since 2019. The epidemic has been observed to affect not only people's emotions and cognition, but also their social behavior, consumption patterns, education methods, and hygiene practices. Despite the fact that the current circumstances are projected to recover in the future, the pandemic has unquestionably shown significant repercussions pointing toward the market's dynamic shifts (Sutherland et al., 2020). For the attributes of green foods being safe and healthy, the COVID-19 crisis has been shown to affect consumers' views and attitudes regarding green food, which may lead to a shift in consumers' future diets (Xie et al., 2020). To successfully reply to the higher expansion of green foods markets, it has become critical to research consumers' buying habits, with a particular focus on purchase intention, which is considered to be the foundation of accomplished buying behavior. As a result, marketers and academics must fully comprehend the elements that influence consumers' intentions of purchasing green foods, particularly during COVID-19 (Chen & Lobo, 2012; Bai et al., 2019; Qi et al., 2020)