Date of Award

Summer 2014

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Agricultural Economics

First Advisor

H. Holly Wang

Committee Member 1

David L. Ortega

Committee Member 2

Nicole J. Olynk Widmar

Abstract

Booming economic growth and rising consumer incomes have impacted food preferences and purchasing behavior in China. At the same time, several internationally publicized food safety incidents, particularly in the animal husbandry sector, have heightened awareness of and concern for food safety and quality in meat and dairy. Rising quality demand and safety concerns have been studied at length in the food retail sector, but also appear to be important in the food service industry. This research uses data from a survey of duck restaurant managers and consumers in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, and Guangzhou to determine preferences and willingness to pay for poultry attributes, taking duck, a traditional poultry product, as a case. Descriptive statistics, a choice experiment, and a best worst experiment are used to examine preferences and/or willingness to pay for duck product attributes including: safety certification, brand, quality, and biotechnology country of origin, imported, size, tenderness, and fat content. All results point to the critical importance of safety certification and eating quality attributes in preferences for both consumers and managers and highlight variation across regions, demographic group, and restaurant characteristics.

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