Volume 4, Issue 12: April 14, 2017 FOOD DEMAND …agecon.okstate.edu/faculty/publications/5523.pdfa food safety risk (mean of 3.2 vs. 3.6 on the 5-point scale of concern) and placed

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FooDSFOOD DEMAND SURVEY

Volume 4, Issue 12: April 14, 2017

Food Demand Survey | Oklahoma State University | [email protected] 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 one month ago, willingness-to-pay (WTP) decreased for all meat products except deli ham. WTP for pork chops reached the lowest point in the almost four-year history of FooDS. WTPs for all meat products are lower than one year ago, except for hamburger.

MEAT DEMAND

Expenditures on food eaten at home fell 2.08% from March to April and expenditures on food purchased away from home increased 2.81%. Consumers expect a slight decrease in beef, chicken, and pork prices compared to one month ago. Consumers plan to buy more chicken, beef, and pork compared to last month. Plans to eat out decreased slightly compared to last month.

FOOD EXPENDITURES

Willingness-to-Pay

Steak Chicken Breast

Hamburger Pork Chop Deli Ham Chicken Wing

Beans & Rice

Pasta

Last Year:April 2016

$7.47 $5.29 $4.09 $3.94 $2.33 $2.76 $3.07 $3.31

Last Month:March 2017

$6.89 $5.45 $4.62 $3.57 $1.75 $2.34 $2.10 $3.11

April 2017 $6.21 $5.03 $4.26 $3.27 $2.04 $2.04 $2.18 $2.81

% change(March - April)

-9.87% -7.71% -7.79% -8.40% 16.57% -12.82% 3.67% -9.65%

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

April 2016 $97.17 $55.43 -0.50% -1.22%

March 2017 $93.88 $50.96 -0.12% -0.77%

April 2017 $91.93 $52.39 -0.42% -1.12%

% change(March - April)

-2.08% 2.81% -------- --------

http://agecon.okstate.edu/files/Survey%20Info%20(pdf4556).pdf




Consumer Expectations FooDS Page 2

Salmonella, GMOs, and E. coli were the most visible issues in the news over the past two weeks. The largest percent increase in awareness from March to April was for farm animal welfare. The largest percent decrease in awareness from March to April was for bird flu. E. coli, Salmonella, and farm animal welfare were ranked as the top three food safety concerns in April. Concern for all items increased since last month. The largest percent increase in concern over last month was for battery cages and the smallest increases were for bird flu and swine flu.

AWARENESS & CONCERN TRACKING

Awareness of Food Issues




Concern for Food Issues FooDS Page 3

Taste, safety, and price remained consumers’ most important values when purchasing food this month. Consumers’ food values remained similar to those in past months. Similar to last month, consumers reported that their main challenge was finding affordable foods that fit within their budget. Finding time to cook at home was the challenge experiencing the largest percentage increase, while finding foods my children will eat experienced the largest percent decrease. In April, 6.49% of participants reported having food poisoning, an 18.16% decrease from last month. About 6.7% of respondents reported being vegetarian or vegan.

GENERAL FOOD VALUES

Consumer Challenges Consumer Values




FooDS Page 4

Several new ad hoc questions were added to this month’s survey. Participants were first asked: “Do you think hydroponic vegetables should be allowed, under certain conditions, to be labeled organic? (note: hydroponic vegetables are grown without soil - their roots grow in water with added nutrients and minerals)” About 46% of participants stated “yes”, hydroponic vegetables should be labeled organic, 24% said “no”, and the remaining 29% said “I don’t know”. It should be noted that due to a glitch in survey administration, only 250 people answered this particular question and as such, the sampling error is higher than usual (it is +/-6% rather than the usual +/- 3%).

AD HOC QUESTIONS

OK to Label Hydroponic Vegetables Organic?




FooDS Page 5

Secondly, participants were given a set of six questions derived by the USDA Economic Research Service to determine food security status.

About 24% of participants were found to have very low food security. About 23% of respondents were found to have both high or marginal food security or low food security. These levels are much higher than those reported by USDA-ERS, perhaps because they automatically assume anyone with income greater than 185% of the poverty line is food secure.

The mean house hold income for those who are not food insecure is $86,000 versus those who do face food insecurity with a mean household income in the low $60,000 range. Just over one third of individuals who are at a low food security level have children under 12 years old and just under half of individuals who are at a very low food security level have children who are under the age of 12. About 17% of individuals who face a very low food security level currently farm or ranch for a living.

AD HOC QUESTIONS

Individuals Level of Food Security




FooDS Page 6AD HOC QUESTIONS

Demographic Variables for Levels of Food Security




FooDS Page 7

Finally, we were interested in whether people actively sought to avoid information they may find undesirable. We split people into two equal sized groups. Those in the first group were asked: “On the next page you have two choices of what to see. You can either see a picture of how pregnant hogs are housed on a typical farm or a picture of a blank screen. Which do you prefer?” 54% said they wanted to see the picture of how pregnant hogs are housed. By contrast, 46% preferred instead to see a blank page. Thus, slightly less than half the sample actively chose to ignore free information about hog housing. Those who preferred to see the blank screen were less concerned about farm animal welfare as a food safety risk (mean of 3.2 vs. 3.6 on the 5-point scale of concern) and placed less relative importance on animal welfare as a food value (mean of -0.116 vs. -0.097). To check whether people simply preferred to see a blank screen in general, respondents randomly allocated to the second group were asked a similar question but instead of the option to see a picture of “how pregnant hogs are housed on a typical farm”, they could choose between “a picture of a nature scene or a picture of a blank page.” Ninety one percent of respondents choose to see the nature scene. Overall, the results suggest just about half the respondents preferred not to know how pregnant hogs are housed.

AD HOC QUESTIONS

Desirable or Undesirable Information

Documents

Volume 4, Issue 12: April 14, 2017 FOOD DEMAND …agecon.okstate.edu/faculty/publications/5523.pdfa food safety risk (mean of 3.2 vs. 3.6 on the 5-point scale of concern) and placed