Attitudes Towards Food Safety and the Environment: A Comparison of Conswners in Japan and the U.S.¹

Abstract

Numerous studies have demonstrated dwindling consumer confidence in the safety of the food supply and growing interest in purchasing "safe" foods. However, this research has painted no consistent picture of those concerned about food safety, nor has it investigated the relationship between environmental and food safety attitudes. A mail survey of Japanese and the United States consumers is used to eval1,latewhether selected environmental attitudes can explain food safety concerns and behavior.Findings indicate high concern about food safety in both countries, but income, age, education, and attitudes about the impacts of fossil fuel use explain little of the variance. Instead, that concern appears to .be prompted largely by an interest in obtaining a healthy diet. It is also noted that Japanese consumers are more concerned about both food safety and the impacts of fossil fuel use, perhaps because of japan's lack of natural resources and high food import levels.

Bovine spongiform encephalopathy in Japan: consumers' food safety perceptions and willingness to pay for tested beef*

“…7 It is also greater than Latouche et al's (1998) mean WTP findings in France from 1997. Possible explanations for this difference could include the concerns of Japanese consumers about food safety issues (Erikson et al 1998;Jussaume and Higgins 1998) and the negative media coverage, which increased between the time of Latouche et al's (1998) study and the time of this study (end of 2001). As previously discussed, Verbeke and Ward (2001) found that negative media coverage of BSE has a major effect on the demand for meat.…”

“…Potential sources of bias in our sample need to be considered in the analysis. Using data collected from customers at a consumer cooperative may represent a bias as consumer cooperatives usually target quality-conscious consumers by offering 'safe foods' (Jussaume and Higgins 1998). In addition, Seikyou labels the origin of all fresh products.…”

The Relationship Between Sociodemographics and Concern About Food Safety Issues

“…Some studies found that that respondents with at least one child present were more concerned about food safety hazards than people without a child present (Jussaume Jr. and Judson 1992;Salcedo et al 1971). A couple of studies could not confirm these findings (Nayga Jr. 1996;Jussaume Jr. and Higgins 1998). Across a majority of food-related studies, education findings are not consistent.…”

“…The effects of age on perceptions of food risks have been mixed. A few studies reported that older respondents were more concerned about food safety issues than younger respondents (Dunlap and Beus 1992;Jordan and Elnagheeb 1991;, but most studies produced no significant difference between old and young respondents regarding perceptions of pesticides (Bealer and Willits 1966;Byrne et al 1991: Hawkes et al 1984Nayga Jr. 1996;Vaughan 1995) and food hazards (Jussaume Jr. and Higgins 1998;Jussaume Jr. and Hudson 1992).…”

The Effects of Social Trust on Consumer Perceptions of Food Safety

“…Jussaume and Higgins (1998) assert that environmentalism and food safety attitudes might be associated because many food safety issues arise from concerns about how food is produced. Previous research indicates also that social-demographic characteristics can influence food safety attitudes.…”