Effects of food safety and health risk information on demand for food in Taiwan

Abstract

In recent years, there have been many reported cases of food contamination of foreign food products, both legally imported and illegally smuggled into Taiwan. In addition, food safety issues in Taiwan have dramatically increased with regard to incidences of contaminated meat products as well as many reported cases of food contamination of foreign food products. Outbreaks of food related diseases such as H5N1 avian influenza, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), foot-and-mouth diseases (FMD), Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Salmonella have also frightened to consumers. Potential impacts of these food safety issues on consumers’ demand for the related food could be serious; however, we don’t know how strong and how long they influence consumers’ food demand. In addition, their own-effects on the demand for contaminated food may involve potential cross-effects impacting the demand for other food. This paper is aimed at providing such an economic analysis of the effects of food safety and health risk information on food demand in Taiwan.