Chinese consumers food purchasing behaviors and awareness of food safety

- Consumers with concern about food safety and higher expenditure choose supermarket.
- Price sensitive consumers reduce the purchase of safe food when the price increases.
- Women, highly educated consumers, children and elderly members have more concerns.
- Consumers' vague knowledge on who is responsible of food safety in China was observed.

This study examines consumer food purchasing behavior and awareness of food safety in China. We surveyed a total of 1015 consumers in Nanjing and Beijing and the results showed that consumers with a lower level of education tend to be less concerned about certain food safety factors compared to those with a higher level of education. The respondents with higher food expenditures were also more concerned about food safety than those who spent less money on food. Women, families with children or elderly people were also more concerned. Consumers in the used sample preferred to buy food from a super-market; paid more attention to the expiration date on the food label, food color and the nutritional content of food products. Consumers had little knowledge of who was responsible for food safety in China; therefore educating consumers on who was responsible for food safety in China may help mitigate consumers' concerns.