Violet Muringai

Consumers' Understanding and Concerns About Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE): Comparison Among Canadian, American, and Japanese Consumers

In spite of much analysis of the impact of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) on consumer perceptions and meat purchases, there has been little explicit analysis of the level of BSE knowledge. In this study the role of knowledge about BSE was examined in Canada, the United States, and Japan. In addition, the level of knowledge was linked to human health concerns regarding BSE and whether there is agreement with paying a premium for beef with BSE animal tests. From a public policy perspective, understanding whether higher or lower knowledge is linked to public concern and desire for market intervention might help in the design of risk communication in any future animal disease outbreak. Should lack of knowledge about the disease be related to a public desire for market intervention (animal testing, for example), then an increase in detailed information about how humans might contract the disease might change public pressure for intervention. As compared to U.S. and Canadian respondents, Japanese respondents are more knowledgeable regarding the ways in which humans might be exposed to the human variant of BSE (variant Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, vCJD) and are more concerned about the disease. However, U.S. respondents are more willing to pay a premium for beef tested to ensure that it will not result in vCJD. Japanese respondents who are more knowledgeable about BSE are more concerned about the risk of BSE to human health. In Canada, subjects who are more knowledgeable about the ways in which humans attain vCJD are less concerned about the risk of BSE to human health. Knowledge of the ways in which humans develop vCJD does not significantly influence concerns about the risk of BSE to human health in the United States or willingness to pay for BSE-tested beef in any of the three countries. The links between knowledge and concerns about BSE and between knowledge and agreement with paying premiums for BSE-tested beef were estimated for each country using ordered probit regressions.

Long-term impacts of bovine spongiform encephalopathy on beef risk perceptions and risk attitudes in Canada

ABSTRACT In this study, the objective was to examine whether or not changes in bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) concerns exert an effect on people’s risk perceptions and risk attitudes regarding consuming beef in Canada, 8 years after finding the first domestic animal with BSE. Data were collected from two surveys (2071 respondents) conducted with the same respondents in 2008 and 2011 in Canada. Data on meat consumption for the same households were also available from the Nielsen Homescan panel over the period 2002 to 2009. Based on census data, the current sample is generally not representative of the Canadian population, but the sample is unique in that the same individuals responded to two surveys and there is an ability to track their evolving household purchases of beef before the first survey and between the two surveys. In essence, alterations in beef risk perceptions are significantly influenced by changes in concerns regarding (1) feed given to livestock, (2) animal diseases and BSE, (3) trust in manufacturers, the government, and farmers, and (4) demographic characteristics. There were significant differences in beef purchases across households, with alterations to their risk perceptions and risk attitudes. In conclusion, although the first domestic incident of BSE was in 2003, concerns regarding BSE are still contributing to consumers’ risk perceptions but not to their risk attitudes with respect to consumption of beef in 2011.

Food Integrity and Food Technology Concerns in Canada: Evidence from Two Public Surveys

Food integrity and food technologies both generate public concerns. There is little research to show the interactions between those concerns in particular samples, especially in Canada. In this paper, data from two national online samples are used to examine an aggregate of food integrity concerns, genetic modification in food, and food nanotechnology concerns in the Canadian public. A variety of trust, health, environmental, and science attitude variables are used to help explain the concerns that vary across the population. In addition, the food integrity concerns are tested as explanatory variables in the technology concern models to establish whether there is a strong or weak link between the two. Tobit and ordered probit regressions are used to model the variables for each of the survey samples. Results are examined to see if they are consistent across surveys and also consistent with an earlier study that was done in Australia. The results suggest that trust in people and trust in a variety of agents within the food system are beliefs that ameliorate concerns about food integrity and the two technologies. However, trust in advocacy organizations appears to be related to higher concerns in each case. Fundamentally and similar to the earlier Australian study, positive scientific attitudes are a major determinant of reduced concerns about food integrity and the two technologies.