Media News Reporting and Perceptions of Beef Safety

摘要

The typical consumer uses his or her prior perceptions of the safety of fresh beef to evaluate any new, media-reported, safety scares involving fresh beef. Consumer reactions to media reports on the BSE outbreak in England, Oprah Winfrey's negative "hamburger statement," and major packer recalls of fresh beef were assessed using a mail survey of households in five major U.S. cities. Ordered probit analysis was conducted to estimate the characteristics of the population in which these three issues hadthe greatest influence on consumer perceptions of beef safety.