Consumers’ risk perception and willingness to pay for abnormally shaped vegetables in China

Abstract Technology in food production is constantly evolving and advancing, and the emerging genetically modified (GM) technology is making a significant contribution to solving the world’s food problems. However, sporadic food safety incidents and negative media coverage have caused Chinese consumers to remain apprehensive about the safety of food and GM technology, even to the extent that they are reluctant to buy vegetables in unusual shapes because they believe the vegetables are produced by GM technology. This paper examines this negative association with GM food. The results show that when seeing an abnormally shaped vegetable, consumers perceive that the vegetable is likely to be genetically modified, thus increasing their perceived risk. In order to estimate the mediation effect, we adopted the causal step approach using an ordered probit model. To investigate consumers’ preferences for attributes of vegetables, we employed a choice experiment, stochastic parametric logit models and latent class logit models. Apart from price, consumers place the highest importance on appearance attributes, followed by traceability attributes, and then safety certification attributes. There is also heterogeneity in consumer preferences. Consumers’ characteristics such as age, marital status and family size influence their preferences. The findings of this paper suggest that traceability labelling and safety certification labelling can be useful in addressing information asymmetry in food safety and can increase consumer utility and improve their trust in the safety of the food they buy.