Amount of information and the willingness of consumers to pay for food traceability in China

- Chinese consumers would prefer a food traceability system with detailed information rather than abbreviated information.
- The willingness to pay (WTP) for traceability is about 10% higher with detailed information than abbreviated information.
- Educational level, self-reported health, risk attitude, and other factors affected WTP by consumers.
- The main concerns of Chinese consumers are quality certificates and chemical fertilizer/pesticide details.

There is no consensus about whether the food traceability system planned for construction in China or other countries should record detailed information like the beef traceability system in Japan, or simple abbreviated information similar to that provided in the USA. Using apple as a research subject, we adopted random nth price experimental auction to investigate the willingness to pay (WTP) for traceability based on abbreviated and detailed information among consumers in China. Totally 88 participants attended the experimental auction. The results showed that consumers had a positive WTP for both types of food traceability system, but the average premium that consumers were prepared to pay for traceability with detailed information was 10% higher than that with abbreviated information. Males, married subjects, and those with a relatively low educational level placed a higher premium on traceability with detailed information, but consumers with good self-reported health did not want to pay a high premium for traceability with detailed information. The results also showed that consumers were most interested in a food traceability system that provides quality certificates and details of the chemical fertilizers/pesticides used in food production. We discuss the implications of these results for the implementation of a food traceability system.