Repeated food scandals in China have prompted growing consumer consciousness on food safety and health. Organic food, considered to be of higher quality, is being increasingly demanded by Chinese consumers. This study examines preferences for organic labels to provide insight on the sustainable development of the Oolong tea industry. Research was conducted using the choice experiment (CE) method in Fujian and Guangdong Provinces. The results demonstrate that place of origin, organic label, and brand attributes are all significant factors affecting the purchase of Oolong. Also, people demonstrated significantly positive attitudes toward organic labels and preferred Oolong tea from Fujian Province to those from Guangdong Province and Taiwan. Increasing trust can enhance consumer preference and willingness to pay (WTP) for organic labels. Contrary to previous studies, people have a higher WTP for Chinese organic labels than Japanese and American ones. This is probably because respondents are more familiar with domestic Oolong tea and trust more in Chinese organic certification. This provides an opportunity for domestic producers to tailor their organic food labels and better satisfy consumer demands. These findings suggest that the Chinese government should take more responsibility for reducing food-related fraud and thus improve consumer trust regarding organic food.

Background: Since numerical calorie labels have limited effects on less-calorie food ordering, an alternative called physical activity calorie equivalent (PACE) labels, which exhibit calories using visible symbols and the minutes of exercise to burn off the calories, may be more effective in reducing calories ordered. Methods: By using a choice experiment (CE) approach, the aims of this study were to estimate the effects of PACE labels on consumer preferences for healthy and unhealth food. Red date walnuts and potato chips were used as the representatives of healthy and unhealthy foods respectively in this study. Moreover, future time perspective (FTP) is an individual trait variable of consumers, which has been recognized as a significant driver of healthy behaviors. We also included FTP into the interaction with PACE labels. Results: Firstly, the results were opposite between the healthy and unhealthy food groups. Respondents showed significantly more positive attitudes toward red date walnuts (i.e., healthy food) with PACE labels, while they showed significantly more negative preferences for chips (i.e., unhealthy food) with PACE labels. Secondly, people with higher FTP are preferred red date walnuts with PACE labels, while PACE labels on chips could undermine the preferences of respondents with higher FTP. Thirdly, we found that women (vs. men) were less inclined to choose healthy food with standard calorie labels and labels showing the minutes of running to burn off the calories, as well as that the elderly (vs. younger) people in the healthy food group preferred the labels showing the minutes of running to burn off the calories. People with a higher body mass index (BMI) were reluctant to purchase walnuts with the information about the minutes of walking. Conclusions: Results from this study showed that PACE labels have significant effects on consumers’ preferences for food products.

To reduce the density of bamboo-based concrete formwork on the premise of meeting the performance requirements, the bamboo was first treated by cold plasma, and then by increasing the distance between the adjacent bamboo strips of the radial bamboo curtain in the middle layer, the internal porosity was increased. The production of lightened bamboo based concrete formwork, which meets China’s forestry industry standards, was achieved. Four groups of bamboo-based concrete formworks with different slab structures were designed. The key results showed that slab structures have an extremely significant effect on the density, MOR, MOE, IB, and TS of the bamboo-based concrete formwork. A group of optimal slab structures was obtained by comparing their physical and mechanical properties (1st and 9th floor-phenolic resin impregnated paper, 2nd and 8th floor-bamboo mat, 3rd and 7th floor-tangential bamboo curtain, 4th and 6th floor-radial spaced bamboo curtain). Based on the required physical and mechanical properties, its density was 0.62 g·cm-3, which was 27.1% lower than that of traditional bamboo plywood template (0.85 g·cm-3) circulating on the current market. This lightened BBCF can save raw materials, facilitate transportation and reduce labor intensity in the application process so that it will be widely used in building construction.