Asymmetry in food safety information – the case of the 2018 Listeriosis outbreak and low-income, urban consumers in Gauteng, South Africa

This study considered the efficiency with which food safety information is received and retained by low-income consumers in South Africa. Primary data from 110 low-income, urban, food consumers around Gauteng were collected and analysed with a willingness to pay (WTP) experiment and a proportional odds model. The study found that initially, 47% of the respondents claimed to know what Listeriosis is. Data validation, and a WTP experiment, however, suggest that there is social acceptability response bias. The proportional odds model further showed that education level is significant in explaining the level of food safety knowledge, but income is not. These results serve as an approximation of the degree of information asymmetry between low-income, urban food consumers and the South African government

Business · Demographic economics · Economics · Food safety · Information asymmetry · Logistic regression · Odds · Willingness to pay · Consumer Attitudes and Food Labeling · Food Safety and Hygiene · Organic Food and Agriculture · Food Science

• Applied Logistic Regression

  David W Hosmer, Stanley Lemeshow•Applied logistic regression•2000

  Add to list

• The demand for food safety

  Open Access•Spencer Henson, Bruce Traill•Food Policy•1993

  Add to list