Consumers Food Scares and Trust: A Thrace Region Study

Abstract

Turkish consumers concern about food-safety issues has risen considerably in the past decades. Examples are H5N1 avian influenza, BSE crisis, outbreaks of food-poisonings caused by pathogens. The goal of this study was to determine first and foremost what consumers in particular think and feel about food scares. A regional survey based on probabilistic area sampling was conducted in 3 provinces (Edirne, Tekirdag and Kirklareli) on a total of 770 respondents (385 respondents in urban and 385 respondents in rural areas) via face-to-face, in-home interview. A Likert-type scale was used to evaluate each of the questions. In addition, this result was supported by principal component analysis (PCA), a K-means cluster analysis (CA) and descriptive statistical analysis which respondents evaluated feel and thinks on food scares. Results show that the level of trust in information is generally high, health authorities and doctors the most reliable sources of information within the Thrace region. This paper provides an unique insight into a wide range of Turkey food scares (e.g. microbiological, contaminants, animal disease-related) and Turkey policy-makers responses to such food scares.