Purchasing Fresh Produce on the Basis of Food Safety, Origin, and Traceability Labels
2011
Tsakiridou, Efthimia | Mattas, Konstadinos | Tsakiridou, Helen | Tsiamparli, Elisavet
Certification, designation of origin (PDO), and traceability of food products can be viewed as quality cues, possessing certain socioeconomic and demographic characteristics that are highly valued by today's consumers. Thus, assessing how consumers evaluate such quality cues and to what extent they are willing to pay a premium for food with one or more of the above-mentioned labels helps producers and processors to adjust according to market demand. The present study aims to identify consumers' awareness, attitudes, and buying intention toward food quality cues such as certification, food safety, origin, and traceability in fresh produce (fruits and vegetables). A logit model was applied to data collected by interviewing 400 consumers in Thessaloniki, Northern Greece, to identify the factors that affect consumers' intention to pay a premium price for these specific quality cues for fresh produce. Results indicate that the most important factors affecting willingness to pay a premium are mainly related to positive attitudes toward healthy food, level of awareness, and, to a lesser extent, several socioeconomic characteristics. The recorded consumer interest for safety and quality in fresh produce reveals that a promising market for such products can be developed by an adequate response in the relative labelling.
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