Product attributes and consumer attitudes affecting the preferences for infant milk formula in China – A latent class approach

Abstract

A series of food safety incidents has led to low levels of trust in the safety of domestically produced Chinese infant milk formula. Concerned parents in China increasingly source 'foreign-produced' brands and use a range of authenticity cues as assurance of the safety and authenticity of infant formula products. However, the effectiveness of authenticity cues in providing assurance to Chinese consumers has not been evaluated. The aim of this study is to analyse the importance of various authenticity cues for infant milk product choices. Latent class models were used to analyse responses to an online choice experiment with 350 consumers of European infant formula in three Chinese cities: Beijing, Guangzhou and Chengdu. The model included respondents' preferences for different labels, authenticity cues and price along with perceptions, attitudes, and socio-demographic characteristics. We identified two consumer segments, with one preferring lower priced infant formula and the second choosing higher priced products. All authenticity cues, including price, appear to serve as indicators of food quality and safety, and all were found to be highly important information sources for the respondents when making purchase decisions. In general, Chinese consumers are prepared to pay a premium for authenticity assurance. Chinese policy makers and the infant formula industry should continue to improve quality control systems to increase consumers' trust in food value chains. These control systems should comprise the whole food supply chain, from production to marketing, and should focus on building trust and communicating credibility.

Urban Consumer Trust and Food Certifications in China

“…Despite the importance of the Chinese food industry and policymakers understanding Chinese consumers’ awareness of food safety and their preferences for food safety information attributes, few studies focused on Chinese consumers’ preferences and behavior with regard to food safety attributes [ 9 , 41 ].…”

“…The fast development of the Chinese food industry has been accompanied by frequent food safety incidents [ 1 , 2 ] that have undermined consumer trust in food safety [ 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ] and have limited the international reputation of the Chinese food industry [ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 ]. Many studies reported weaknesses in China’s food safety system, which are mainly related to poor law enforcement and inefficient supervision of governmental agencies [ 13 , 14 , 15 ].…”

Food fraud and the perceived integrity of European food imports into China

“…It is not known whether having health vulnerabilities through for example, age or acute illness, or having responsibility for an individual who has, increases WTP for foods that have been certified. A recent research study conducted by [ 37 ] (submitted) which examined Chinese consumers’ willingness to pay for authenticated infant formula milk, found that Chinese consumers mistrust the safety of domestic supply chains, although authenticity cues gave some degree of assurance, especially when associated with third party certification. However, research indicates that a substantial proportion of Chinese consumers do not trust certification schemes, or at least do not trust all of them equally.…”

A systematic review of consumer perceptions of food fraud and authenticity: A European perspective

“…Food chain actors use a range of signals to communicate their trustworthiness including effective knowledge exchange between stakeholders in industry, regulatory institutions and civil society organisations, and certification, packaging and labelling that support consumers evaluations of credence attributes such as product origin and production speciality claims, e.g. organic and fair trade claims (El Benni et al, 2019;Grayson & Martinec, 2004;Liu, Yannopoulou, Bian, & Elliott, 2015). Relational trust refers situations where trust is developed through reciprocal relationships, e.g.…”