Food safety issues in China: a case study of the dairy sector. (6th March 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dong, Xiaoxia; Li, Zhemin
• Is Part Of: Journal of the science of food and agriculture. Volume 96:Number 1(2016)
• Page Start: 346
• Page End: 352
• Publication Date: 2015-03-06
• Subjects: food safety -- consumer behaviour -- different income group -- dairy sector; Food -- Periodicals; Agriculture -- Periodicals; 664
• DOI: 10.1002/jsfa.7107
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0022-5142

Abstract

Abstract: BACKGROUND: Over the past 10 years, food safety incidents have occurred frequently in China. Food safety issues in the dairy sector have increasingly gained the attention of the Chinese government and the public. The objective of this research is to explore consumption changes of dairy products of different income groups after these dairy safety incidents. RESULTS: The research indicates that consumers' response to dairy safety risk is very intense. Dairy consumption has experienced a declining trend in recent years, and the impact of dairy safety incidents has lasted for at least 5 years. Until 2012, dairy consumption had not yet fully recovered from this influence. Using the random effects model, this study examined the relationship between food safety incident and consumption. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the results show that consumers in the low‐income group are more sensitive to safety risk than those in the high‐income group. It can be seen from this paper that the decrease of urban residents' dairy consumption was mainly driven by changes in fresh milk consumption, while the decline of milk powder consumption, which was affected by the melamine incident, was relatively moderate, and milk powder consumption for the high‐income group even increased. © 2015 Society of Chemical Industry