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Individual Attitudes on Food Quality and Safety: Empirical Evidence on EU Countries

Author

Listed:
  • Donatella Baiardi

    (Department of Economics and Management, University of Pavia)

  • Riccardo Puglisi

    (Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Pavia)

  • Simona Scabrosetti

    (Department of Law, University of Pavia)

Abstract

What are the determinants of individual attitudes on food? Focusing on EU citizens, we provide a first systematic answer to this question by using the 2010 Eurobarometer Special Survey on risk perception. Since respondents are asked about various features of food consumption, we check to what extent a specific demographic or socio-economic variable is differentially correlated with those features. We find that women show an higher risk aversion than men, given their attention on freshness, calories and safety. The same holds for more educated, higher income individuals and respondents living with children. Occupational status does not play a relevant role in food preferences, except for prices. We deal with potential response bias by using as dependent variable the difference between each response on a given food attribute and the average response on the other ones. We also perform a principal component analysis to identify the underlying patterns which drive individual responses.

Suggested Citation

  • Donatella Baiardi & Riccardo Puglisi & Simona Scabrosetti, 2012. "Individual Attitudes on Food Quality and Safety: Empirical Evidence on EU Countries," DEM Working Papers Series 014, University of Pavia, Department of Economics and Management.
    • Handle: RePEc:pav:demwpp:014
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    individual attitudes; food safety; food quality; Eurobarometer 73.5 Special Survey on Risk Perception;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • Q18 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Policy; Food Policy; Animal Welfare Policy
    • K32 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Energy, Environmental, Health, and Safety Law

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