Consumer perception about food safety an empirical investigation

Abstract

Food related health risks have become an important issue in the last decades around the world. The risks can be divided into two groups. First group included the composition of the diet and the second group - risks produced by techno-economic changes of industry and agriculture such as contaminants from environmental pollution, agricultural chemical residues, in other words the components which are usually included in the concept of food safety. Hormones, genetically modified foods, organic foods, pesticide residues and preservatives have become important topics in the last decade and there is an increasing attention about food safety. Some empirical researches assessed consumer perception about food safety around the world. Understanding consumer perception is important both for food producers and government. In addition, the European Union's directives to Turkey about food safety give more importance to the subject. Consumer perception is one of the performance measurements of a firm and firm's quality management system. This study is carried out to understand consumer perception of food safety. In this context a survey is used to determine perceptions of people who are living in Edirne as well as consumer perception of food related risks, willing to pay extra for food safety, credibility of information sources about food safety.