Consumer Attitudes, Underlying Perceptions and Actions Associated with Food Quality and Safety

Abstract

This study examines consumer perceptions and attitudes associated with food and food safety, how those perceptions depend on consumer characteristics, and the relationship between attitudes and actual food safety-related behaviour. The analysis is based on a survey eliciting willingness to pay (WTP) for the Finnish Salmonella Control Program. Besides WTP, information obtained from the survey describes consumer attitudes in reference to various food and food safety related issues. The primary purpose of the study is to categorize consumers according to their attitudinal profiles and to compare these different consumer categories. In addition, this study examines the linkages between expressed attitudes and behaviour including WTP and actual, self-reported avoidance behaviour. As expected, not all people are very concerned about food safety. Additionally, the groups concerned about food safety may act differently when ensuring it. For example, using money in order to “purchase” food safety and using own efforts in order to “produce” food safety seem to be two alternative behavioural approaches, which represent either substitute or complement strategies, depending on the attitudinal profiles of the consumers in question.

Key Words:

• Food safety
• consumer perceptions
• contingent valuation
• attitude-behaviour relationship
• theory of reasoned action