Food Safety and Consumers' Willingness to Pay for Labelled Beef in Spain

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to assess the quality/safety value for beef consumers, measuring their willingness to pay a price premium for labelled beef. From a survey conducted among food shoppers within the household, consumers are segmented according to their safety perception of specific food products. For each segment, their willingness to pay for labelled beef is calculated. Finally, the main factors explaining such a decision are considered. The results indicate that food scares, the perception of a negative impact of agricultural production on the environment and health concerns are having a major impact on the food consumer purchasing decisions for beef. However, most consumers are not willing to pay a price premium for labelled beef.

Key Words:

• Consumer behaviour
• beef
• quality label
• traceability
• willingness to pay