Effects of grade, smiley, and text on Danish and Finnish consumers’ perceptions of food safety inspection reports
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Effects of grade, smiley, and text on Danish and Finnish consumers’ perceptions of food safety inspection reports. / Vainio, Annukka; Ollila, Sari; Sørensen, Thomas Alrik; Kaskela, Jenni; Finell, Eerika; Leisner, Jørgen J.; Lundén, Janne.
In: Food Control, Vol. 144, 109382, 2023.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - Effects of grade, smiley, and text on Danish and Finnish consumers’ perceptions of food safety inspection reports
AU - Vainio, Annukka
AU - Ollila, Sari
AU - Sørensen, Thomas Alrik
AU - Kaskela, Jenni
AU - Finell, Eerika
AU - Leisner, Jørgen J.
AU - Lundén, Janne
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Authors
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Publicly accessible food safety inspection reports are a standard procedure to inform consumers on restaurants' food safety levels in many countries. This study examined how different formats of food safety inspection report are associated with consumer perceptions related to food safety, as well as other perceptions about the restaurant. The study was conducted in Denmark and Finland with similar inspection grade systems but differences in the distribution of awarded grades. We conducted a population-based survey experiment with a between-subjects design on nationally representative samples of the 18–70 years old Danish (n = 978) and Finnish (n = 907) populations. Respondents received one of six food safety inspection reports with different combinations of inspection grade with a smiley and/or text. According to the results, both Danish and Finnish consumers’ food safety perceptions of the same grade were more positive when the report included a smiley, and more negative when the report included a text. Finnish respondents perceived a good food safety inspection grade more positively than Danish respondents but there were no country differences when the grade was poor. In addition, food safety inspection results elicited perceptions that were not related to food safety in both countries. The results suggest that if the grade is poor, the inclusion of text is effective in eliciting perceptions of increased food safety risk. If the grade is good, a standalone smiley may be most effective in eliciting positive perceptions of a high food safety level. Moreover, these results indicate the importance of carefully evaluating how to develop public accessible inspection grades to ensure they are correctly interpreted by consumers in different countries.
AB - Publicly accessible food safety inspection reports are a standard procedure to inform consumers on restaurants' food safety levels in many countries. This study examined how different formats of food safety inspection report are associated with consumer perceptions related to food safety, as well as other perceptions about the restaurant. The study was conducted in Denmark and Finland with similar inspection grade systems but differences in the distribution of awarded grades. We conducted a population-based survey experiment with a between-subjects design on nationally representative samples of the 18–70 years old Danish (n = 978) and Finnish (n = 907) populations. Respondents received one of six food safety inspection reports with different combinations of inspection grade with a smiley and/or text. According to the results, both Danish and Finnish consumers’ food safety perceptions of the same grade were more positive when the report included a smiley, and more negative when the report included a text. Finnish respondents perceived a good food safety inspection grade more positively than Danish respondents but there were no country differences when the grade was poor. In addition, food safety inspection results elicited perceptions that were not related to food safety in both countries. The results suggest that if the grade is poor, the inclusion of text is effective in eliciting perceptions of increased food safety risk. If the grade is good, a standalone smiley may be most effective in eliciting positive perceptions of a high food safety level. Moreover, these results indicate the importance of carefully evaluating how to develop public accessible inspection grades to ensure they are correctly interpreted by consumers in different countries.
KW - Consumer perceptions
KW - Disclosure
KW - Food safety inspection report
KW - Restaurant
KW - Survey experiment
U2 - 10.1016/j.foodcont.2022.109382
DO - 10.1016/j.foodcont.2022.109382
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85139044767
VL - 144
JO - Food Control
JF - Food Control
SN - 0956-7135
M1 - 109382
ER -
ID: 330897125