Consumer perception of food risk in chicken meat

Abstract

Growing concerns about risks to public health have heightened consumer awareness of safety in food consumption. Understanding consumer perception of risk and impact on purchase behaviour is a key issue for the mutual benefit of both consumers and food industry. An exploratory study in the form of personal interviews was carried out to investigate the perceived main food risks in chicken meat product, together with the components of perceived loss and risk reducing strategies. The results suggested the importance of lifestyle loss as a separate factor along with health, financial, time, and product performance loss. Risk reducing strategies adopted by consumers were matched with the marketing strategies used by the food industry, such as product quality assurance, product information and pricing. Consumers felt able to reduce exposure to food safety risk by personal control in the post‐purchase handling and preparation of chicken meat.