The future of sustainable food consumption in China

This is the final version. Available from Wiley via the DOI in this record. DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.Food production is one of the main contributors to greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. China, as a rapidly developing economy, contributes to an unsustainable food system as its consumption of animal products and meat has continued to grow in recent decades. Using the extended theory of planned behavior as the conceptual framework, this paper examines factors influencing consumers' intention to purchase sustainable food in China. To this end, a population-based face-to-face survey was conducted with 2422 respondents in five provinces spanning the north and south of China. The results showed that the traditional constructs of behavioral attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control, and the additional construct of perceived quality are significant in inducing such intentions. This paper suggests that to enhance consumers' willingness to shift to sustainable food consumption, appropriate regulation and monitoring framework is needed to increase consumers' trust toward sustainable food. The government can also cooperate with the media, experts, and social media opinion leaders to ensure that messages on sustainable development are promoted in effective ways.CUHK-Exeter Joint Centre for Environmental Sustainability and ResilienceHong Kong Research Grants Committee Area of Excellence Schem