Tropentag, September 10 - 12, 2025, Bonn "Reconciling land system changes with planetary health"

Consumers' preferences for beef safety attributes: The role of market transformation in Ondo-state, Nigeria

¹Federal University of Technology Akure, Nigeria., Agricultural and Resource Economics, Nigeria
²Federal University of Technology Akure, Nigeria., Agricultural and Resource Economics
³Georg-August-University of Göttingen, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development
⁴Justus Liebig University Giessen, Institute for Agricultural Policy and Market Research, Germany

Abstract

The spread of unsafe food continues to pose substantial public health risks across many Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, mainly due to the prevalence of traditional, unregulated food markets and the absence of reliable certification mechanisms to signal food safety. Modern market systems, such as supermarkets, are gradually emerging and can potentially improve food safety signaling. However, empirical evidence suggests that consumers in SSA may strongly prefer traditional market outlets, motivated by perceptions of superior taste, freshness, and familiarity. Focusing on beef, a product particularly prone to safety risks due to unhygienic handling and slaughtering practices, this study employs a Discrete Choice Experiment (DCE) to analyse how 209 urban Nigerian consumers make trade-offs between market outlet types (supermarkets, modern abattoirs, traditional slaughterhouses, and open markets) and beef attributes (meat colour, fat content, and production system). We used a split-sample design to examine differences in preferences between scenarios with and without certification labeling, and mixed logit models were estimated to account for preference heterogeneity. The results indicate that, in the absence of a certification label, consumers are indifferent between modern abattoirs and traditional slaughterhouses while expressing a strong disutility for supermarkets. Furthermore, consumers prefer beef with low-fat content and are indifferent to meat colour in the unlabeled condition. However, introducing a certification label significantly changes consumer preferences: an increased utility for light red, lean beef and, surprisingly, beef from traditional slaughterhouses. These findings yield two key implications. First, food safety certification labels substantially alter consumers' heuristics to infer safety from observable product and market attributes. Second, integrating certification schemes within traditional market systems may represent a more effective strategy for enhancing food safety while preserving consumer welfare.

Keywords: Beef attributes, certification verification, food-safety, market transformation

Contact Address: Omolola Ajiboye , Federal University of Technology Akure, Nigeria., Agricultural and Resource Economics, Surulere along ijare road ilere akure., 340106 Akure, Nigeria, e-mail: omololaajiboye75gmail.com