The European COST Action E45 on European Forest Externalities (EUROFOREX) participants developed a set of good practice guidelines for the non-market valuation of forests, elaborating on stated and revealed preference methodologies, as well as benefit transfer and meta-analytical procedures. This article presents a summary of the guidelines

The total economic value (TEV) of two threatened Italian cattle breeds (Modicana and Maremmana) was investigated using a choice experiment survey. Most respondents (85%) support breed conservation, their stated willingness-to-pay easily justifying EU support. The high landscape maintenance, existence and future option values of both breeds (around 80% of their TEVs) suggest that incentives mechanisms are indeed needed in order to allow farmers to capture some of these public good values and hence motivate them to undertake conservation-related activities. The positive direct use values of both breeds (around 20% of their TEVs) imply that niche product markets aimed at enhancing the private good values associated with conservation could also form elements of a conservation and use strategy for these breeds.

Purpose-In 2012, the European food industry was hit by a food fraud: horsemeat was found in pre-prepared foods, without any declaration on the package. This is commonly referred to as the 'horsemeat scandal'. The aim of this study is to investigate consumers' preferences across Europe for a selected ready meal, ready to heat (RTH) fresh lasagne, to consider whether the effects of potential food frauds on consumers' choices can be mitigated by introducing enhanced standards of RTH products. Approach-An online survey was administered to 4,598 consumers of RTH lasagne in six European countries (Republic of Ireland, France, Italy, Spain, Germany and Norway), applying discrete choice experiments to estimate consumers' willingness to pay for enhanced food safety standards and highlight differences between countries. Findings-Many similarities across countries emerged, as well as some differences. Consumers in Europe are highly concerned with the authenticity of the meat in ready meals and strongly prefer to know that ingredients are nationally sourced. Strong regional differences in price premiums exist for enhanced food safety standards. Originality/value-This research adds relevant insights in the analysis of consumers' reaction to food fraud, providing practical guidelines on the most appropriate practices that producers should adopt and on the information to reduce food risk perception among consumers. This would prove beneficial for the food processing industry and the European Union. The survey is based on a representative sample of European consumers making this the largest cross country study of this kind.

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