Food risk perceptions by different consumer groups in Germany

Farmers’ Perception of Water Quality and Risks in the Mashavera River Basin, Georgia: Analyzing the Vulnerability of the Social-Ecological System through Community Perceptions

Competing natural resources usage that leads to dramatic land use changes can threaten the balance of a social-ecological system. When this is the case, communities are directly exposed to the negative consequences of those land use changes. The Mashavera River Basin is considered one of the hotspots of environmental pollution in Georgia. This is of importance for public health because the food production from this basin meets a substantial proportion of the country’s food demand. The farmers’ perception of the water quality and their perceived risks to the economy, health, and lifestyle reflect the status of the environmental and social conditions. The inclusion of farmers’ risk perceptions is an important stage of water quality governance that could enable active civic participation. The approach of this research study was the convergence model in the triangular design of the mixed method approach. As part of the social data, the research study was conducted with a survey of 177 households, for which agriculture was either a main or partial source of income. A few focus group discussions were also conducted. A binary logistic regression analysis was employed as the main method for the analysis. The results from the pollution load index (PLI) were used as the supportive data to verify some geospatial hypotheses. We found that aesthetic attributes (i.e., color changes observed in the river) and the source of the water contamination (i.e., mining sites) were the main predictor variables for a perceived risk to water quality, health, and livelihoods. The people who work in agriculture as the main income source had more concern about their ability to sell their agricultural products as a result of water contamination in the river, compared with people for whom agriculture is a secondary source of income or for self-consumption. Age, amount of land, years of agricultural experience, and the source of water supply for agriculture did not have a significant effect on any of the risk perception or water quality perception models. The results indicate that the health risk is perceived more strongly in areas with more heavily contaminated water compared to less polluted areas. We propose that conducting a public risk perception assessment is an ideal means to detect people’s concerns regarding water quality governance for future risk analysis in Georgia. Another recommendation of this study is an integrated model of risk assessment that combines the results from a public risk perception assessment and a technical assessment. The benefits of such an integrated assessment include finding new hazard-sensitive areas for further analysis, the possibility to cross-check data for verification, communal communication of hazardous conditions by utilizing local knowledge, and the direct participation of the community in monitoring risks.

"Why some consumers don't care": Heterogeneity in household responses to a food scandal

In the aftermath of food scandals, household perceptions about the health risks posed by failures in food safety play a central role in determining their mitigating behavior. A stream of literature has shown that factors including media coverage of a scandal, risk perceptions, trust in food safety information, and consumption habits matter. This paper deviates from the standard assumption of a homogeneous response to media information across all households exposed to a food scandal. Instead, we present an innovative multi-method approach to investigate the impacts of household heterogeneity in underlying psychological and behavioral, media usage patterns and consumption habits on poultry demand in the aftermath of the 2011 German dioxin scandal. The analysis employs weekly retail purchase and matching survey data for 6133 households covering pre and post scandal periods. The supplementary survey data elicits household respondent's risk perceptions and risk attitudes, product label and media information behavior. Initial factor and cluster analysis identify household segments based on psychographic and behavioral indicators. We then estimate a correlated random effect Tobit model to account for clustered household responses to quantify the influence of media effects distinguishing between short-term risk mitigation behavior and longer-term habit persistence. Our results confirm significant heterogeneity in household's media-induced risk-mitigation responses to the dioxin scandal across three clusters. However, we find that habit persistence in the form of consumption preferences for the affected products were able to largely compensate for demand-reducing media effects across household clusters. Considering heterogeneity in household's risk mitigation behaviors to food scandals holds implications for policy makers and food industry alike.

A Comprehensive Examination of the Determinants for Food Risk Perception: Focusing on Psychometric Factors, Perceivers' Characteristics, and Media Use

Risk characteristics within a psychometric paradigm have been of major concern in studies of food risk perception. This study compared the influence of psychometric factors, perceivers' characteristics (i.e., risk attitude, trust, and favorability of the country of origin), and that of the news media on the levels of food risk perception. The interaction of news media with the other two factors was also examined. A nationwide survey (n = 1,500) was conducted. The foods under investigation were Chinese processed foods and Japanese seafood imported to South Korea. In both cases, hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that psychometric factors had the greatest influence on food risk perception, followed by perceivers' characteristics and media use. In addition, our results showed that the effect of perceived benefit and dread in Chinese food were salient only for those with little media use. The implication of the interaction effect on food risk perception is discussed in terms of accessibility and limited capacity of information processing.

Outrage Factors in Government Press Releases of Food Risk and Their Influence on News Media Coverage

An appropriate level of risk perception should be a critical issue in modern "risk society." There have been many studies on the influences on risk perception. This study investigates whether risk communication scholar Dr. Peter Sandman's outrage factors intensify journalistic attention to health risks from food consumption. A content analysis of a health institution's press releases was conducted to examine 15 outrage factors of food risks conveyed in the governmental risk communication. In addition, the news stories covering the food risks informed by the press releases were calculated to evaluate the relation between outrage factors of a risk and the number of news stories covering the risk. Results showed that controllability was the most salient outrage factor, followed by trust, voluntariness, familiarity, and human origin; the greater the outrage score of a risk, the more news stories of the risk. For individual outrage factors, a risk with an implication of catastrophic potential was associated with an increase of news stories. Food providers' distrustful behaviors also influenced journalistic attention to the food risks. The implication of the findings to health message designers is discussed.

Knowledge, attitudes towards and acceptability of genetic modification in Germany

Genetic modification remains a controversial issue. The aim of this study is to analyse the attitudes towards genetic modification, the knowledge about it and its acceptability in different application areas among German consumers. Results are based on a survey from spring 2005. An exploratory factor analysis is conducted to identify the attitudes towards genetic modification. The identified factors are used in a cluster analysis that identified a cluster of supporters, of opponents and a group of indifferent consumers. Respondents' knowledge of genetics and biotechnology differs among the found clusters without revealing a clear relationship between knowledge and support of genetic modification. The acceptability of genetic modification varies by application area and cluster, and genetically modified non-food products are more widely accepted than food products. The perception of personal health risks has high explanatory power for attitudes and acceptability.