The influence of retail outlet and FSMA information on consumer perceptions of and willingness to pay for organic grape tomatoes

• We examine the impact of retail outlet and FSMA information on perceptions and WTP.
• WTP and perceptions were highest at farmers markets and fresh format stores.
• WTP and perceptions were lowest at supercenters.
• FSMA information impacted safety ratings but had little effect on WTP values.
• Consumers have food safety concerns & do not want producer exemptions to the FSMA.

The primary objective of this research was to determine the effect of retail outlet (supercenter, supermarket, farmers market, fresh format) on consumer perceptions of and willingness to pay (WTP) for organic grape tomatoes. Also examined was whether information on the proposed Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) regulations, with and without information on tomato safety, altered these aspects across retail outlets. Field experiments were conducted with 207 participants in two U.S. states in fall 2014 to address these questions. Consumers’ perceptions and WTP varied significantly by retail outlet, with farmers markets and fresh format stores receiving the most favorable evaluations and supercenters the least. With FSMA information, safety perceptions fell significantly for the favored outlets and mostly increased for supercenters. Participants’ felt no producers should be exempt from the FSMA and viewed farmers markets vendors as most likely to be exempt. Unexpectedly though, these changes seldom translated into changes in WTP. Further, in treatments with added tomato safety information, supercenters saw no safety rating benefit. Overall, it was clear the organic label was not viewed equally across different retail outlets.