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UK consumer reactions to organic certification logos

Gerrard, Catherine L; Janssen, Meike; Smith, Laurence; Hamm, Ulrich and Padel, Susanne (2013) UK consumer reactions to organic certification logos. British Food Journal, 115 (5), 727 -742.

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Summary

Purpose - This paper considers the question of whether UK consumers recognise and trust organic certification logos and whether the presence of these logos on a product increases consumer willingness to pay for that product.
Methodology/approach - To ascertain the reaction of UK consumers to organic certification logos commonly used in the UK, this study makes use of three methods: focus groups, a consumer survey and a willingness to pay experiment (choice experiment).
Findings - These three approaches reveal that UK consumers associate certain benefits with organic foods but are generally unaware of how the industry is regulated. With regards to trust of the logo, the standards they think underlie the logo and the inspection system that they think is associated with the logo, UK consumers rate the Soil Association and Organic Farmers and Growers logos more highly than the EU logo or products labelled with just the word “organic”. They appear willing to pay a premium for the additional assurance that these two logos provide, suggesting that where they are recognised, certification logos are valued.
Originality – To the authors’ knowledge, no previous studies exist on whether UK consumers recognise and trust different organic certification logos. These findings show that where such logos are recognised they can help to give some assurance to the UK consumer and this is reflected in a willingness to pay a premium for foods labelled with the Soil Association and Organic Farmers and Growers certification logos as opposed to no logo or the (less well known) EU logo.


EPrint Type:Journal paper
Keywords:Organic food, Consumer perceptions, Certification logos
Agrovoc keywords:
Language
Value
URI
English
UNSPECIFIED
UNSPECIFIED
Subjects: Food systems > Markets and trade
Values, standards and certification > Consumer issues
Research affiliation: European Union > CertCost
UK > Organic Research Centre (ORC)
Germany > University of Kassel
Horizon Europe or H2020 Grant Agreement Number:207727
DOI:10.1108/00070701311331517
Related Links:http://www.certcost.org/
Deposited By: Gerrard, Dr Catherine L
ID Code:22557
Deposited On:15 Apr 2013 16:17
Last Modified:20 May 2013 08:25
Document Language:English
Status:Published
Refereed:Peer-reviewed and accepted

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