Abstract
There have been more and more food safety incidents since 1990s in China. Implementation of traceability system is an important way to improve food safety in China. The food traceability system is still in an initial stage and implemented only in limited products and companies in China. Contingent valuation method (CVM) was used to investigate the Chinese consumers’ willingness to pay for traceable vegetables and beef. The research was based on 600 face-to-face survey conducted in Beijing, Shanghai and Jinan in China. It shows that: (1) Price of traceable bean sprouts, leccute and beef (BBS), place of purchase (PLACE), consumer perception of food risk (RISK), gender (GENDER), consumer health (HEALTH) and per capita monthly income (LANINCOME) have significant effects on consumers’ WTP for traceable food. (2) The respondents’ willingness to pay for traceable bean sprouts, leccute and beef are 91.7, 99.2 and 18.4% higher than normal bean sprouts, leccute and beef respectively. (3) Consumers show greater willingness to pay for the traceable food with other quality certification. Key words: Food traceability system, consumers’ willingness to pay, contingent valuation method.
Highlights
There have been more and more food safety incidents since 1990s in China
Willingness to pay for traceable food in various countries and regions, but such researches are still in an initial stage in China. It can be found from previous studies that contingent valuation method is a feasible and popular method to investigate consumers’ willingness to pay for traceable food
Willingness to pay; it indicates that consumers who
Summary
In 2008, melamine was found in infant milk powder produced by Sanlu Group in Hebei province at first, it was found in several other famous milk powder producers These incidents have caused widely public concern over the food safety and significant effects on the food market in China. In 2004, 8 cities were selected as pilot cities to establish food safety monitoring system by the Ministry of Agriculture of China. The Ministry of Commerce of China began to establish food tracing system in 2010, and 35 cities were ratified as pilot cities for food tracing system until 2013. The aim of the research was to investigate consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for certified traceable food and its affecting factors. Contingent valuation method (CVM) was used to investigate the Chinese consumers’ willingness to pay for traceable vegetables and beef.
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