Food safety issues and the BSE scare: some lessons from the French case

Karine Latouche, Pierre Rainelli and Dominique Vermersch ()
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Pierre Rainelli: Unité d'économie et sociologie rurales de rennes - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique
Dominique Vermersch: Unité d'économie et sociologie rurales de rennes - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique

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Abstract: The Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) scare began after the UK Minister of Health admitted a possible link between the BSE prion and the Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease contaminating humans. The paper outlines a survey conducted in the area of Rennes to analyse consumer behaviour after the BSE crisis. A contingent scenario was proposed to determine the willingness to pay (WTP) for beef which should not transmit CJD using a mix of the referendum method and the bidding process. The variables considered as main determinants of the WTP have been selected. The study concludes with the interests and limits of the method used, and the implications of the BSE scare on food policy. In fact, the `mad cow' disease raises the problem of loss of public confidence and the means to restore it. Consumers are waiting for a greater transparency or `traceability' and, according to the survey, would accept to pay for it.

Keywords: beef; mad cow disease; BSE; willingness to pay; hedonic pricing; contingent valuation; comportement des consommateurs; viande bovine; encéphalopathie spongiforme bovine; évaluation contingente (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1998
Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-02416818v1
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (38)

Published in Food Policy, 1998, 23 (5), pp.347-356. ⟨10.1016/S0306-9192(98)00048-7⟩

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Journal Article: Food safety issues and the BSE scare: some lessons from the French case (1998)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02416818

DOI: 10.1016/S0306-9192(98)00048-7

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