Consumers’ perceptions of implementing traceability systems in farm-raised Atlantic salmon in Newfoundland and Labrador

Majumder, Dipika (2019) Consumers’ perceptions of implementing traceability systems in farm-raised Atlantic salmon in Newfoundland and Labrador. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

[English] PDF - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. Download (1MB)

Abstract

The occurrences of food safety incidents like polychlorinated biphenyls in farmed Atlantic salmon in Canada heightened public awareness causing significant reduction in the consumption of the farm-raised salmon. This has induced policymakers and stakeholders to implement traceability systems as part of enhancing consumers’ trust and safety in farm-raised salmon. This thesis aims to provide information on consumers’ awareness about traceability systems of farmraised Atlantic salmon and their willingness to pay (WTP) for traceable farm-raised salmon in Newfoundland and Labrador (NL), Canada. The thesis uses a logistic regression model to assess consumers’ preferences for farm-raised Atlantic salmon. To estimate the parameters of the model, a telephone survey was carried out in fall 2018 over 200 consumers in the province. The results of the study show that the gender and age of the respondents, education level, household size, and household consumptions are significant determinants of NL consumer’s WTP for the farm-raised traceable salmon. Moreover, a shortage of public knowledge about the traceability systems was also observed in the empirical evidence. To increase the consumers’ knowledge about the value of traceability and traceability aspects, public authorities and food companies need to take further initiatives in NL. Providing detail labeling could be one of the suitable ways of communicating traceability to consumers. Besides, comprehensive monitoring by the competent authorities is also required to guarantee the truthfulness of traceable information, to ensure seafood sustainability and to reveal the food safety problems for enhancing the degree of consumer confidence in traceability systems.

Actions (login required)

View Item