Consumer Perception of Food Attributes

Consumer Perception of Food Attributes

Shigeru Matsumoto, Tsunehiro Otsuki

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781315296197
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Biology
• Index: Biological Sciences

Food credence attributes are food features that are difficult to verify even after consumption. Consumers, today, are concerned about many food credence attributes, including animal rights, contamination risk, fair trade practice, genetic modification, geographical origin, and organic farming. For the past several decades, many scholars have analyzed the value consumers place on credence attributes and have reported that consumers will pay a premium for foods with these desirable properties. In addition, their studies reveal that individual consumers place greater importance on some credence attributes than others. For example, some are seriously concerned about animal welfare, while others are solely concerned about food safety. One of the objectives of this book is to summarize recent empirical findings from scholarly works on how consumers value food credence attributes. Such knowledge would benefit producers, processors, retailers, and policy makers.

Another objective of this book is to discuss the effectiveness of the programs that have been introduced to strengthen the relationship between producers and consumers. Many programs have been developed to more effectively inform consumers regarding food production processes.

1
Overview

Céline Giner,³* Shigeru Matsumoto¹ and Tsunechiro Otsuki²

Introduction

Our lifespan is limited and so also the number of meals we can partake. Even if we have three meals a day for 90 years regularly, we cannot eat more than 100,000 meals in our entire lifetime. Given this limitation, people tend to seek more satisfying foods. This is not a new phenomenon. In earlier times, our ancestors sought just the nutrients necessary for survival. They then traveled around the world and looked for more satisfying foods.

Modernization in agriculture and expansion of international trade has rapidly increased food variety. Compared to our ancestors, we can eat a wide variety of foods. However, deciding what food to eat has become a more complex task. Suppose we find two types of garlic in a grocery store: one imported from Spain and the other from China Which garlic are we going to choose? Should we assume that difference in quality is fully reflected by the difference in price? Or should we purchase Spanish garlic to make Spanish gambas al ajillo, but purchase Chinese garlic to make Chinese garlic shrimp? Diversification of production methods and the complexity of the food supply chain further add to consumer confusion with regard to food choices. Can we assume that the social and environmental impacts of garlic production are about the same between the countries? Or should we be concerned by the difference in production and delivery methods at the time of purchase?

Consumers seek food attribute information at the time of purchase and buy food with certain properties. They care about food production methods, its geographic origin, and its potential impacts on human health. Consumers are not able to check the accuracy of food attributes before or even after consumption. For the past several decades, many scholars have analyzed the value that consumers place on credence attributes and reported that consumers may be willing to pay a premium for foods with these desirable properties. In addition, the studies reveal that individuals place greater importance on some credence attributes than others. For example, some are seriously concerned about animal welfare, while others are solely concerned about food safety. This book summarizes the recent empirical findings from scholarly works about consumers’ valuation of food credence attributes. We believe that such knowledge benefits producers, processors, retailers, and policy makers.

Appearance provides little or no indication of how food is produced. This information asymmetry harms transaction efficiency between consumers and producers. Since consumers cannot verify food credence attributes, they rely on information provided by consumer organizations, distributors, governments, and food producers.

Many programs have been developed to more effectively inform consumers regarding food production processes. For instance, organic and country-of-origin labels are commonly used in developed countries. The question then arises whether such labeling programs have an impact on consumers’ food choices and improve social welfare. This book discusses the effectiveness of the programs that have been introduced to strengthen the relationship and to resolve information asymmetry between producers and consumers.

The book consists of four parts.

Part I addresses food safety—consumer’s primary concern about food:

• Chapter 2 overviews consumer perspectives about the benefits and risks of novel technologies such as irradiation, genetic modification, and nanotechnology. The chapter also studies pesticides and production-enhancing hormones used in agriculture.

• Chapter 3 analyzes consumer response to animal diseases and evaluates the effectiveness of the countermeasures undertaken in affected countries.

• Chapter 4 studies the regulation of genetically modified (GM) foods in the United States and reports that most Americans know little about GM foods.

• The nuclear accident at Fukushima Power Plant in Japan has had a tremendous impact on the Japanese agricultural market. Chapter 5 analyzes the sales data in the Tokyo wholesale market to examine how radioactive contamination has changed consumers’ willingness to pay for vegetables from affected regions.

Food credence attributes are also of great concern in the context of international trade. They may have heterogeneous, or sometimes opposite effects depending on their net trade position or on their economic development. Some countries demand that food or agricultural products meet certain desirable properties. This implies substantial commitment and constraints for producers in exporting countries and may also constitute trade barriers.

Part II addresses the relationships between international trade and food credence attributes:

• Chapter 6 gives an overview of the role of food credence attributes in international trade. The chapter demonstrates the impact of regulation of credence goods and attributes on trade and welfare. It observes the potential protectionist implications of the regulations in place.

• Chapter 7 examines the effect of food safety standards on the international food trade. The chapter demonstrates the country-, market-, and consumer-level impacts of food safety standards and attempts to resolve the current debates on whether food safety standards promote or impede trade.

• Chapter 8 discusses how food credence attributes such as organic farming and geographic indication can be mobilized to enhance economic development toward a win–win outcome through case studies on cross-border value-chain management in the Mekong region.

• Chapter 9 addresses agricultural biodiversity as a diversification of farm production while providing environmental, economic, and sociocultural benefits to the local and global society. The chapter attempts to empirically identify farm- and market-level factors that promote agricultural biodiversity.

A rich dietary life not only satiates our stomach but also enriches our life. As we can infer from the fact that many festivals and events are linked to the harvesting of agricultural produce and also our dietary habits have been closely related to culture and/or religion.

Part III discusses cultural and ethical aspects of food credence attributes. If consumers have cultural and ethical motivations for their diet and are trying to express their own identity through food consumption, then producers and governments cannot obtain consumer support simply by providing food attribute information.

• Chapter 10 summarizes the power and potential hazards associated with the promotion of food credence attributes. Typical consumers do not have the ability to gather and process all relevant information required for an informed food choice.

• Using the complexity theory and multi-criteria analysis, Chapter 11 discusses how ethical choices of consumers are to play a key role in a sustainable food system.

• We use animals for crop production and slaughter animals for food. The ethical aspects of agricultural production are emphasized in relation to animals Chapter 12 focuses on consumers’ attitudes toward farm animal welfare.

• It is relatively easy to share culture and ethics with neighbors but difficult to share with those far away. Many countries have introduced country-of-origin labeling (COOL) for those across in the past two decades. Chapter 13 assesses the impact of such COOLs. Specifically, the chapter examines how consumers’ trust toward their own government determines the acceptance of imported food.

• Regional origin labels are increasingly popular in recent years. Chapter 14 studies regional origin logos/labels introduced in the Czech Republic and examines whether logos/labels are used at the point of purchase.

• Due to the recent large-scale commercialization in the organic food development, a few US consumers became skeptical about organic production labeled food and started to regard local food and organic food as substitute, rather than complementary. Chapter 15 focuses on this structure change and discusses its potential impact on agricultural markets.

Part IV discusses marketing and regulation for food credence attributes.

• Chapter 16 reviews the regulations of food marketing and examines the mechanics of consumer inference and choice, and the means by which food marketers seek to influence them.

• Although consumers often describe that health considerations are important drivers of their food choices, health, and nutrition information is not always available at the time of purchase. Chapter 17 overviews the literature on health-related food labeling and then reports the findings from a Norwegian study of consumer perceptions of food warnings.

• Consumers with different dietary habits may utilize the same food attribute information differently. Chapter 18 examines how dietary restraint interacts with GM/non-GM food labeling to impact consumers’ healthfulness perceptions and subsequent consumption.

• Chapter 19 discusses the difference and competition between local and the existing global certification programs. The chapter specifically analyzes why and how the Japanese local certification programs have been promoted in the context of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, while global certifi...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Preface
• Acknowledgment
• Table of Contents
• 1. Overview
• Part I: Food Safety
• Part II: International Trade
• Part III: Culture and Ethics
• Part IV: Marketing and Regulation
• Index