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FooDSFOOD DEMAND SURVEY

Volume 3, Issue 11: March 15, 2016

Food Demand Survey | Oklahoma State University | info.survey@okstate.eduJayson Lusk | Regents Professor & Willard Sparks Endowed Chair | 405-744-7465

Susan Murray | Research Specialist | 405-744-4857This project is supported by a Willard Sparks Endowment, the Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station, and the

Agricultural and Food Research Initiative Competitive Program of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

FooDS tracks consumer preferences and sentiments on the safety, quality, and price of food at home and away from home with particular focus on meat demand. FooDS is a monthly on-line survey with a sample size of at least 1,000 individuals, weighted to match the US population in terms of age, gender, education and region of residence. See the online technical document for more details.

About the Survey

Compared to last month, willingness-to-pay (WTP) for hamburger, pork chop, and deli ham fell and WTP increased for steak, chicken breast and chicken wings. Compared to one year ago, WTP is lower for beef and pork products but higher for chicken products.

MEAT DEMAND

Expenditures on food eaten at home was virtually unchanged from February to March and expenditures on food purchased away from home increased 3% relative to last month. Consumers expect to see slightly lower beef prices and slightly higher chicken prices compared to last month, while pork prices are expected to remain stable. Plans for eating out increased compared to last month.

FOOD EXPENDITURES

Willingness-to-Pay

Steak Chicken Breast

Hamburger Pork Chop Deli Ham Chicken Wing

Beans & Rice

Pasta

Last Year:March 2015

$7.89 $5.47 $4.61 $4.25 $2.79 $2.29 $2.82 $3.55

Last Month:February 2016

$7.39 $5.36 $4.68 $4.20 $2.65 $2.27 $2.54 $3.54

March 2016 $7.76 $5.53 $4.52 $4.02 $2.45 $2.79 $3.10 $3.51

% change(Feb. - March)

5.01% 3.17% -3.42% -4.29% -7.55% 22.91% 22.05% -0.85%

Current weekly at home

Current weekly away from home

Anticipated change in at home in next 2 weeks

Anticipated change away from home in next 2 weeks

March 2015 $97.00 $50.96 -0.46% -1.40%

February 2016 $98.57 $51.00 -0.30% -1.44%

March 2016 $98.51 $52.58 -0.28% -1.22%

% change(Feb. - March)

-0.06% 3.10% -------- --------

Food Demand Survey | Oklahoma State University | info.survey@okstate.eduJayson Lusk | Regents Professor & Willard Sparks Endowed Chair | 405-744-7465

Susan Murray | Research Specialist | 405-744-4857This project is supported by a Willard Sparks Endowment, the Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station, and the

Agricultural and Food Research Initiative Competitive Program of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

Consumer Expectations FooDS Page 2

E. coli, Salmonella, and GMOs remained the most visible issues in the news over the past two weeks. The largest percent increase in awareness over the last month was for battery cages, LFTB, and animal welfare. Among the most visible issues, the largest percent decrease from February to March was for E. coli and bird flu. Salmonella, E. coli, and hormones were ranked as the top three concerns during March. The largest percent increase in concern was for lean finely textured ground beef and battery cages. The largest percent decrease in concern was for E. coli and greenhouse gases.

AWARENESS & CONCERN TRACKING

Awareness of Food Issues

Food Demand Survey | Oklahoma State University | info.survey@okstate.eduJayson Lusk | Regents Professor & Willard Sparks Endowed Chair | 405-744-7465

Susan Murray | Research Specialist | 405-744-4857This project is supported by a Willard Sparks Endowment, the Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station, and the

Agricultural and Food Research Initiative Competitive Program of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

Concern for Food Issues FooDS Page 3

Taste, safety, and price remained consumers’ most important values when purchasing food this month. Consumer values remained similar to those in past months, with slight increases in perceived values of nutrition and naturalness. Similar to previous months, consumers reported that their main challenge was finding affordable foods that fit within their budget. Losing weight was the challenging experincing the largest increase. In March 6.90% of participants reported having food poisoning, a 56% increase from one month ago.

GENERAL FOOD VALUES

Consumer Challenges Consumer Values

Food Demand Survey | Oklahoma State University | info.survey@okstate.eduJayson Lusk | Regents Professor & Willard Sparks Endowed Chair | 405-744-7465

Susan Murray | Research Specialist | 405-744-4857This project is supported by a Willard Sparks Endowment, the Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station, and the

Agricultural and Food Research Initiative Competitive Program of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

FooDS Page 4

A few new ad hoc questions were added this month. First, all respondents were asked the question, “Compared to five years ago, would you say you are spending more or less time engaged in the following activities during a typical day?” Individuals were presented with seven categories ranging from about 45 minutes less to about 45 minutes more. Overall, respondents report spending more time shopping for food and eating at home. About the same amount of time was reported being spent on cleaning dishes and on cooking. Slightly less time was reported spent watching TV and reading about food. Less time was reportedly spent eating away from home. There was considerable heterogeneity in response patterns, with some people increasing time spent by 45 minutes or more and others decreasing time spent by 45 minutes or more for each of the activities.

AD HOC QUESTIONS

Time Spent in Food Related Activities

Food Demand Survey | Oklahoma State University | info.survey@okstate.eduJayson Lusk | Regents Professor & Willard Sparks Endowed Chair | 405-744-7465

Susan Murray | Research Specialist | 405-744-4857This project is supported by a Willard Sparks Endowment, the Oklahoma Agricultural Experiment Station, and the

Agricultural and Food Research Initiative Competitive Program of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

FooDS Page 5

Second, one group of respondents was directly asked three questions for which there might be some sensitivity regarding the answer or where their might be social pressure to respond in particular ways. The direct questions were: 1) “Last week did you buy organic food?”, “Last week, did you use a SNAP EBT card?”, and “Last week, did you receive food assistance from a charitable organization like a food pantry, free community meal, or some other free grocery program?”As the following figure shows, when directly asked, the percent of respondents affirmatively answering these questions was 43%, 13%, and 7% respectively. The other groups of respondents were asked these questions in an indirect fashion. In particular, we used an approach called a “list experiment”, which has been used in political polling for years. The approach asks people to indicate HOW MANY of a list of items relate to the respondent (not which one). This question is asked to a control group, and then a treatment group receives the exact same list plus one additional sensitive (or controversial) issue. By comparing how many items the respondent indicates in the control and treatment, one can back out the aggregate percent of respondents to whom the additional issue applies. The essence of the approach is that people don’t have to actually tell you whether each issue corresponds to them, and thus it removes the potential for social desirability influencing respondents. In the control group, respondents were asked, “Below are three activities; How many of the following things did you do last week? Went to a movie, Ate spaghetti, Bought toothpaste.” The treatment groups were the same except we added an additional fourth item, either “bought organic food”, “used a SNAP EBT card” or “Receive food assistance from a charitable organization like a food pantry, free community meal, or some other free grocery program?” As the figure shows, the degree of affirmation inferred from the indirect question was lower for all three issues, particularly for organic food which dropped from 43% to an inferred 11%.

AD HOC QUESTIONS

Prevalence of Weekly Activities