How effective is information provision in shaping food safety related purchasing decisions? Evidence from a choice experiment in Lebanon

Consumers' attitudes, knowledge and practices governing food safety in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are understudied. There are no studies investigating the food marketing implications of these factors in the context of eating out or ordering delivery. In this study, a choice experiment (CE) was conducted to study consumers' preferences and purchasing behavior governing shawarma sandwiches, a high risk Lebanese fast food, purchased from quality management (ISO 9001) and safety (ISO 22000 and ServSafe (R)) certified food shops in Beirut, Lebanon. Moreover, the study looks at the effectiveness of information provision on each type of certificate in influencing consumers' purchasing decisions. A mixed logit (MXL) estimation of the data reveals a strong overall preference for all types of certified shawarma sandwiches and a strong heterogeneity in the degree of this preference in the Beirut population. Results also suggest that once informed about the role of each certificate, preference for each food certificates increases significantly, but more so and in a much more variegated manner for the food safety certificates, ISO 22000 and ServSafe, than for ISO 9001. The determinants of preference shift (mostly increase) that are affected by information provision are then studied. Results suggest that consumers' mental conception of food safety - as revealed by their knowledge, perceptions, attitudes, preventive behavior and purchasing habits - are more important in that respect than objectively measured socio-demographic characteristics. This poses a challenge for food safety marketing research, not least because of the difficulty of collecting this type of data. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.