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As restaurant menus play a critical role in customers' perceptions and behavioral intentions, this study examined the effect of ethnic restaurants' menus' visual appeal and informativeness on customers' perceived authenticity, quality, and desire to order. This study also examined the mediating role of the menus' informativeness between the menus' visual appeal and customers' perceived authenticity. Data were obtained from 416 customers who had visited an ethnic restaurant one month prior to the data collection. Based on the structural equation modeling results, this study found that only the menus' informativeness increased these customers' perceived authenticity. Also, the indirect effects of visual appeal on perceived authenticity through the menus' informativeness were discovered. Lastly, perceived authenticity is an antecedent of the customers' desire to order and perceived quality. These findings suggest that ethnic restaurants should carefully encourage customers to read the information provided in menus to positively increase their perception of authenticity. Theoretical and managerial implications are also provided.

Purpose This study aims to examine how customers’ perceptions of the quality and credibility of restaurants’ food safety information influence customers’ information adoption and, consequently, their trust in the restaurant and purchase intention. It also explores the moderating effects of customers’ food safety knowledge and health consciousness. Design/methodology/approach Participants were asked to read a food safety message from a chain restaurant’s website before taking a self-administered online survey. Using a cross-sectional design, a total of 526 valid responses were collected in the USA through Amazon Mechanical Turk. A two-step approach consisting of a measurement model and a structural equation model was applied to test the direct and indirect effects. Additionally, hierarchical regression models were developed to test the moderating effects. Findings Results show that perceived information quality significantly affects perceived information credibility and has a significant direct and indirect influence on information adoption. Furthermore, information adoption has a direct positive influence on customers’ trust in the restaurant and an indirect effect on purchase intention (full mediation effect of trust). Finally, the moderation effects of health consciousness and food safety knowledge were supported. Practical implications Restaurateurs can apply research findings to increase the likelihood that customers adopt their food safety information and to enhance customers’ trust and, consequently, purchase intention in restaurants. Originality/value Reflecting on framing theory and information processing theory, this study examines the ways that customers process restaurants’ food safety information by developing an original conceptual framework with strong empirical data support.

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Prophylactic and therapeutic effects of acetylcarnitine against acetaminophen-induced hepatotoxicity were studied in mice. To evaluate the prophylactic effects of acetylcarnitine, mice were supplemented with acetylcarnitine (2 mmol/kg/day per oral (p.o.) for 5 days) before a single dose of acetaminophen (350 mg/kg intraperitoneal (i.p.)). Animals were sacrificed 6 h after acetaminophen injection. Acetaminophen significantly increased the markers of liver injury, hepatic reactive oxygen species, and nitrate/nitrite, and decreased hepatic glutathione (GSH) and the antioxidant enzymes. Acetylcarnitine supplementation resulted in reversal of all biochemical parameters toward the control values. To explore the therapeutic effects of acetylcarnitine, mice were given a single dose of acetylcarnitine (0.5, 1, and 2 mmol/kg p.o.) 1.5 h after acetaminophen. Animals were sacrificed 6 h after acetaminophen. Acetylcarnitine administration resulted in partial reversal of liver injury only at 2 mmol/kg p.o. At equimolar doses, N-acetylcystiene was superior as therapeutic agent to acetylcarnitine. However, acetylcarnitine potentiated the effect of N-acetylcystiene in the treatment of acetaminophen toxicity.