The growing concern for food safety and quality, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic and the new normal situation, motivates governments and private sectors to improve consumers’ confidence in food systems by adopting certifications and traceability systems. The recent emergence of diverse food labeling schemes in food systems in emerging countries has sparked questions about consumers’ valuation of such labels. Nonetheless, little is known about how familiarity with, trust in and knowledge of these food labels affect consumers’ utility. This study aims to reveal consumers’ preferences for agrifood assurance to accelerate food safety practices. Specifically, we examine in what ways agrifood attributes (traceability, certification, selling places and price) impact consumers’ selection.
Data were gathered from surveying 1,365 consumers and then discrete choice experiment methodology was applied to measure consumers’ willingness to pay for safety attributes displayed on food labels in different market outlets.
Empirical evidence shows that certification is the most preferred safety attribute, with the highest level of WTP hovering around 50% more for both USDA and VietGap certificates. The second rank belongs to the traceability system, where consumers express particular interest in farming and processing information rather than more complicated information. Meanwhile, the food purchasing venue has less effect on consumers’ WTP for a certain food label. Consumers’ demographic factors, familiarity, knowledge and trust also play an important role in explaining their heterogeneity.
The findings may not be generalizable because the current study only included data from Vietnamese consumers.
Our findings provide managerial implications for food policymakers and providers in governing the food market to restore consumer confidence.
