Exploring Chinese consumers' attitudes toward traceable dairy products: A focus group study

Abstract

Dairy products are an essential part of a healthy diet, and dairy is an emerging food industry in China. With rapid economic development, Chinese consumers are increasingly health-conscious and are becoming more selective about the quality and safety of dairy products. Adopting a qualitative approach, we explored Chinese consumers' perception of dairy food safety and attitudes toward traceable dairy products through 9 focus group interviews administered in 4 urban locations in North and South China, with a total of 61 participants. Results showed that a prevalence of food safety incidents triggers consumers to lower their confidence in food safety and to pay more attention to the news about food safety incidents in the media, including social media. Chemical residues ranked as the first concern for food safety in the dairy industry. Meanwhile, traceable dairy products were not well known among consumers. Although the possibility to trace back all stages of the food supply chain in the dairy sector was considered important, respondents raised doubts about the truthfulness of traceability information.

Keywords: consumer perception; dairy products; focus group; food traceability.