CONSUMERS' WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR FOOD SAFETY: A PATHOGEN SPECIFIC ANALYSIS

Abstract

Estimates of the economic benefits of intervention strategies to make food safer from specific pathogens for different durations of protection are not available. We estimated consumers' willingness to pay for a hypothetical vaccine that would deliver a 1-year, 5- years, 10-years, or lifetime protection against Salmonella, E. coli, or Listeria. We used logit and Tobit models to estimate the economic benefits of food safety measures against these major foodborne pathogens. Based on FoodNet 2002 population survey data, consumers were willing to pay for protection against foodborne pathogens. They were willing to pay more for longer protection and for protection against E. coli compared to Salmonella or Listeria. However, they were less willing to pay if the protection was costly.Contingent valuation, Food Safety, Economic benefits, population survey, Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,