European Consumer Preferences For U.S. And Domestic Beef: Willingness To Pay For Source Verification, Hormone-Free, And Genetically Modified Organism-Free Beef

The European Union (EU) ban on the production and importation of meat derived from animals treated with growth-promoting hormones has spurred considerable debate. However, relatively little research has considered how EU consumers have been affected or how they feel about the ban. The purpose of this research is to determine beef product preferences of EU consumers and to elicit how much, if anything, these consumers are willing to pay for their preferred attributes. More specifically, this study uses a non-hypothetical choice experiment to evaluate how EU consumers value beef steaks from animals produced using growth hormones, fed genetically modified feeds, and from U.S. origin relative to their typical, domestically produced steaks. Results reveal that consumers in London, England; Frankfurt, Germany; and Paris, France are on average willing to pay a premium ($8.75/lb, $3.25/lb, and $0.98/lb, respectively) for a "USDA Choice No Hormones or GMOs" steak as opposed to their "Domestic Typical" steak. Additionally, these consumers indicated a willingness to pay a premium for both U.S. produced hormone-free beef ($0.86/lb in London, $1.93/lb in Frankfurt, and $0.30/lb in Paris) and for U.S. produced beef free of genetically modified organisms ($8.88/lb in London, $2.55/ lb in Frankfurt, and $2.79/lb in Paris) relative to USDA Choice beef.