Analysis of Pig Farmers’ Preference and Adoption Behavior for Food Safety Information Labels in China

Abstract

Food labels are used to reduce the inefficiencies that arise from information asymmetry. Since food certification and traceability labels are commonly food safety information labels used in China, it is of great importance to study producer preference and adoption behavior towards these food safety information labels. This study constructs a profile of food labels that includes different levels of four safety information attributes, including place of origin, edible agricultural products conformity certificate, traceability code, and organic/green certification. Based on the primary data of pig farmers in Zhejiang Province and using Random Parameters Logit Model and Latent Class Model, this paper analyzed farmers’ willingness to supply pork with food safety information labels and discussed farmers’ adoption behaviors in the production process. Results indicate that among the four information attributes, farmers were more likely to supply pork with the place of origin and organic/green certification. They had a negative willingness to provide pork with a conformity certificate that is certificated by a third party. The preferences for food safety information labels were heterogeneous among farmers. 13.5% of the farmers belonged to the certification-inclined class, and 37.9% of the farmers were traceability preferred. However, the adoption rate by farmers of pork with traceability labels in production was only 7.69%. Therefore, governments and markets should increase incentives for farmers to participate in the traceability system and encourage farmers to issue certificates, and further strengthen the education and training of farmers.

Preference of Chinese food production enterprises to government regulatory Information——A choice experiment approach

“…Chinese food production enterprises exhibit the traits of being many and dispersed, most of whom are the small and medium-sized ones established as family businesses with straightforward organizational structures. Consequently, the decisions taken by decision-makers in food production enterprises based on an individual basis represent those made by the enterprises [ 14 , 15 ]. This study uses the choice experiment approach to examine the decision-makers' selection preferences for government regulatory information in food production firms, providing suggestions to the Chinese government on how to control food safety concerns through information.…”