Consumers’ Awareness, Perceptions, Attitudes and Willingness to Pay Towards Food Safety: A Case of Meat Consumption

This study was designed to determine consumers’ awareness, perceptions, attitudes and willingness to pay (WTP) for food safety.A total of 3,145 respondents were interviewed using a close-ended questionnaire. Descriptive analysis, factor analysis and contingent valuation (CV) method were used to analyse the collected data.The results pointed out that majority of the consumers know and have read or heard of foodborne illness, and a portion of them have experienced foodborne illness caused by meat.However, not all of the consumers have a right perception towards foodborne risks in meat due to lack of information. The results also indicated that freshness was the most important factor that influences consumers’ preferences in purchasing and consuming meat, followed by healthiness and nutrient contents. The factor analysis results identified four factors that influenced the consumption of meat among Malaysian consumers. The factors were government involvements, meat safety awareness, health consciousness and product potentials.The CVM was used to determine consumers’ WTP for the consumption of meat. A logit and probit model was used to estimate a premium that consumers are willing to pay for meat. As shown in the results, the most important and significant factors that influenced as well as determined the amount of premium that a consumer is willing to pay for meat are gender, age, marital status, household size and income, price levels, and children.Based on the study, it was found that the demand and consumption of meat is still high despite of the food scares incidents in the country recently. However, many Malaysian consumers are becoming more vigilant when buying meat due to adapting of healthier diet and lifestyle. This current trend will certainly have effects on the present market of meat.Hence, to ensure a better development of meat market, there is a need to formulate proper standards, policies and promotion programmes for meat safety, and to step up the efforts of Research and Development (R&D) in improving the production technologies and food safety systems for mea