Food safety and consumer satisfaction have become one of the critical issues being discussed across the globe. The process of producing the food is changing and the demand for safe food is also increasing. These demands are challenging the food system to emphasize more on their needs and to meet their demands on healthy, safe, and environmentally sound food products. A study was conducted to evaluate the consumer perceptions on food safety issues and the factors affecting consumers’ willingness to pay when the information on food safety changes in Texas. Texas was considered as the site of study due to its diversity and influx of population in recent years. To accomplish the objectives, focus group discussions were conducted to find out the baseline information. Using that baseline information, a survey was designed and implemented to collect the data.
The major portion of the consumers were either neutral or disagreeing with the food safety issues which includes voluntary recalls after encountering food safety issues, same standards of farmers market and supermarket, protection from food borne illness, and same standard of farm fish and wild caught fish demonstrating a knowledge gap providing the spaces for policy recommendation. Multinominal logistic regression was conducted to identify the factors affecting consumers’ willingness to pay under company recalled, United States Department for Agriculture (USDA) recalled, Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) controlled and blockchain technology controlled seafoods. It identified the education level and perception have positive impact consistently. Further consumers were willing to pay extra price for food safety was also found significant. However, the elderly consumers (50 and above) were not willing to pay for food safety decisions. Note: This is the result of preliminary data analysis, and more findings will be presented in the final draft.