Does Personal Information Acquisition by Consumers Improve Food Safety Levels?

Abstract

Abstract-If we try to prevent diseases and deaths caused by some attributes of foods, it is necessary for the sales side to provide all necessary information, and it is also crucial to build a system in which consumers can personally and easily access any necessary information regarding the purchase of foods. In this paper, we assume a service that makes it possible for consumers to personally access such information at a store using their portable phones, and we examine the realization and effects of this service by a social experiment in a university classroom. The main results are as follows. 1) Participants in this experiment have high interest in our service. 2) If the service is provided in reality, many consumers will access a variety of information, which will result in the improvement of food safety levels. 3) Participants are willing to pay, on average, 692 yen at most for this service.Index Terms-Asymmetric information, food safety, market failure, personal information acquisition.