Ali Chalak

The global economic and regulatory determinants of household food waste generation: A cross-country analysis

Food is generally wasted all along the supply chain, with an estimated loss of 35percent generated at the consumer level. Consequently, household food waste constitutes a sizable proportion of the total waste generated throughout the food supply chain. Yet such wastes vary drastically between developed and developing countries. Using data collected from 44 countries with various income levels, this paper investigates the impact of legislation and economic incentives on household food waste generation. The obtained results indicate that well-defined regulations, policies and strategies are more effective than fiscal measures in mitigating household food waste generation.

Bayesian Estimation of Willingness-to-Pay where Respondents Mis-Report Their Preferences

We introduce a modified conditional logit model that takes account of uncertainty associated with mis-reporting in revealed preference experiments estimating willingness-to-pay (WTP). Like Hausman et al. [Journal of Econometrics (1988) Vol. 87, pp. 239-269], our model captures the extent and direction of uncertainty by respondents. Using a Bayesian methodology, we apply our model to a choice modelling (CM) data set examining UK consumer preferences for non-pesticide food. We compare the results of our model with the Hausman model. WTP estimates are produced for different groups of consumers and we find that modified estimates of WTP, that take account of mis-reporting, are substantially revised downwards. We find a significant proportion of respondents mis-reporting in favour of the non-pesticide option. Finally, with this data set, Bayes factors suggest that our model is preferred to the Hausman model.

Modifying willingness to pay estimates where respondents mis-report their preferences

The likelihood for the Logit model is modified, so as to take account of uncertainty associated with mis-reporting in stated preference experiments estimating willingness to pay (WTP). Monte Carlo results demonstrate the bias imparted to estimates where there is mis-reporting. The approach is applied to a data set examining consumer preferences for food produced employing a nonpesticide technology. Our modified approach leads to WTP that are substantially downwardly revised.

The effect of governance mechanisms on food safety in the supply chain: Evidence from the Lebanese dairy sector

BACKGROUND Food safety is a key public health issue worldwide. This study aims to characterise existing governance mechanisms - governance structures (GSs) and food safety management systems (FSMSs) - and analyse the alignment thereof in detecting food safety hazards, based on empirical evidence from Lebanon. RESULTS Firm-to-firm and public baseline are the dominant FSMSs applied in a large-scale, while chain-wide FSMSs are observed only in a small-scale. Most transactions involving farmers are relational and market-based in contrast to (large-scale) processors, which opt for hierarchical GSs. Large-scale processors use a combination of FSMSs and GSs to minimise food safety hazards albeit potential increase in coordination costs; this is an important feature of modern food supply chains. The econometric analysis reveals contract period, on-farm inspection and experience having significant effects in minimising food safety hazards. However, the potential to implement farm-level FSMS is influenced by formality of the contract, herd size, trading partner choice, and experience. CONCLUSION Public baseline FSMSs appear effective in controlling food safety hazards; however, this may not be viable due to the scarcity of public resources. We suggest public policies to focus on long-lasting governance mechanisms by introducing incentive schemes and farm-level FSMSs by providing loans and education to farmers.

Farmers’ Willingness to Adopt Conservation Agriculture: New Evidence from Lebanon

With increasing food insecurity and climate change, conservation agriculture has emerged as a sustainable alternative to intensive conventional agriculture as a source of food supply. Yet the adoption rate of conservation agriculture is still low. Our paper analyses the factors affecting farmers’ willingness to adopt conservation agriculture in Lebanon. The findings show that household characteristics—years of farming and farm size affect conservation agriculture adoption. However, household characteristics alone were insufficient to explain conservation agriculture adoption. We found that farming experience, information sources, frequency of irrigation, and severity of weed infestation in the past, participation in specific trainings, and farmers’ perception about the long-term impact of conservation agriculture, were key determinants of conservation agriculture adoption. Our paper encourages policymakers to invest in conservation agriculture to overcome food insecurity and environmental changes affecting food systems in the Middle East. The paper also informs agribusiness firms to view conservation agriculture as a viable alternative to strengthen their business relationship with farmers in arid and semi-arid regions.

Unraveling mean and variance heterogeneity influences of information provision on safer food purchasing decisions: A heteroscedastic mixed logit approach

Abstract The literature on information provision in stated preference surveys studying food safety has virtually ignored potential influences on variances of preference parameters (or heteroskedasticity) and has solely focused on systematic heterogeneity in their means estimates. Recently, unraveling both types of preference heterogeneity underlying consumer choices has become possible with the extension of the mixed logit (ML) model into a heteroskedastic variant (HML). In this paper, we use a HML model to analyze data from a choice experiment studying the effect of providing information related to third-party food safety certification on Lebanese food consumers’ purchasing decisions. To our knowledge, this is the first application of the model to study information provision. Results reveal that besides the expected increases in preference parameters’ mean pertaining to the food safety certificates (ISO 22000 and ServSafe®) among informed respondents, variances also significantly increased. In contrast, the price parameter variance decreased significantly. The distribution plots of certification and price preferences suggest that the HML model better captures the narrowing of the price distribution and broadening of both ServeSafe and ISO 22000 distributions. Thus, the HML model can offer useful insights into the behavioral underpinnings of consumer food safety attitudes and purchasing decisions.

Surveying Alcohol Outlet Density in Four Neighborhoods of Beirut Lebanon: Implications for Future Research and National Policy

Underage drinking among youth in Lebanon is increasing. Regulating availability is one of the best buy policies recommended by the World Health Organization. To quantitatively document the current status of alcohol availability to youth in Lebanon, we used GPS technology to survey alcohol outlet density in four highly populated neighborhoods in Beirut, Lebanon, and to estimate their proximity to educational institutions. The density of alcohol outlets ranged from 18.30 to 80.95 per km2 (average of 39.6 alcohol outlets/km2). The highest number of total alcohol outlets was in the “Hamra & Jamiaa” area, which includes one of the largest private universities in the country. Thirteen out of 109 (12%) alcohol outlets (on and off-premise) were located less 100 m away from educational institutions, in violation of the current licensing law. None of the off-premise and the majority (94%) of on-premise alcohol outlets displayed the “no sale for <18” sign. Findings were indicative of an environment conducive to increased access and availability of alcohol among youth in Lebanon probably attributed to the prevailing weak alcohol policies and their enforcement. Systematic collection and reporting of alcohol outlet densities is critical to understand the alcogenic environment and guide local harm reduction policies.

Generation of food waste in the hospitality and food retail and wholesale sectors: lessons from developed economies

Food wastage is a major challenge in the global food value chain. In an attempt to explain and better understand the determinants of food waste across the supply chain, this paper closely examines the Hospitality, Restaurants and Canteens/Cafeterias (HORECA) as well as food retail and wholesale sectors, as being interrelated with the final consumer at the post-harvest and post-processing levels. Data from 33 developed countries in North America, Europe, Asia and Oceania were compiled from secondary sources and analyzed by means of a regression model in order to identify the macroeconomic factors contributing to generation of food waste in the HORECA industry at the national level. The results of our analysis suggest that a well-defined and inclusive legislative framework, awareness campaigns as well as fiscal incentives significantly reduce generation of food waste by an average of 17.6, 21.3 and 14.3%; respectively. Accordingly, these measures can be used in conjunction as effective schemes for controlling food wastage in the HORECA industry. On the other hand, non-legally binding initiatives by government authorities among other actors did not seem to have any significant impact on the food waste generated and quantities reported.