Consumers' willingness to pay for pork safety in the Southeast region of Vietnam

Abstract

Food safety is a topic that receives consumers' attention because it affects directly to their health. Increased demand for safe food leads to consumers' willingness to pay a high price. This study investigates the awareness and willingness to pay of consumers for safe pork with four safety attributes including certification label, traceability, brand, and price. A choice experiment was carried out among 395 consumers from Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, and Dong Nai provinces in the Southeast region of Vietnam. A random parameter logit model was estimated to reveal consumers' willingness to pay for safe pork. Results from the survey revealed that unsafe pork is the main concern of consumers because pork is a common meat in their daily meals. The findings indicated that consumers are willing to pay an extra 32.6% for traceability, 31.1% for safety certification label, and 24.9% for pork brand label. This implies that improving the traceability system, safety certification label, and the promotion of safe pork brands and publicity on pork safety attributes will significantly increase consumers' trust and demand for safe pork.