Chicken meat taste preferences, perceived risk of human infection with avian influenza virus, and self-reported chicken meat consumption in China

Abstract

Chinese consumers often prefer to buy live chickens for cooking at home rather than chilled or frozen chicken meat because of the superior flavor. Even though the purchase of live chickens for consumption was restricted by the Chinese government after the avian influenza (AI) virus outbreak in 2013, people continue to buy live chickens. Thus, it is important to understand why people make this decision. The goal of this study was to investigate the relationships among chicken meat taste preferences, perceived risk of human infection with AI virus, and chicken meat consumption behaviors in China. To address this, a survey of 1108 individuals was carried out in Jiangsu Province. This province was selected because its per capita consumption of poultry products is higher than the national average, and it is at the highest risk for avian influenza A H7N9 and H5N1 virus epidemics out of all provinces in China. Descriptive statistics, multivariate linear regression, and hierarchical regression modeling were used to analyze the data. The results showed that Chinese consumers still buy live chickens at a high rate due to taste preferences, and have a very low perceived risk of infection with AI virus. Multivariate linear and hierarchical regression analyses showed that total monthly household income was significantly and positively associated with the perceived importance of chicken taste; the number of people in the household and the perceived importance of chicken taste were significantly and positively associated with the purchase of live chickens for consumption; age was significantly and negatively associated with the purchase of chilled and frozen chicken for consumption; and education and expertize in livestock-related fields were significantly and positively associated with the purchase of live chickens for consumption. Expertize in livestock-related fields was significantly and positively associated with perceived risk of human infection with AI virus, and perceived risk was significantly and positively associated with the purchase of chilled chicken for consumption. However, the perceived risk of human infection with AI virus had no effect on the relationship between the perceived importance of chicken taste and the purchase of live chickens for consumption. The findings from this study suggest that, over time and with increasing public education, the purchase of live poultry for consumption will gradually decline in China. However, to accelerate this process, measures should be taken to reduce consumer perception of taste differences between chilled chicken meat and meat from freshly killed chickens. In addition, educating consumers about livestock to enhance their risk perception could also be another effective means of promoting the purchase of chilled and frozen chicken meat.