Agricultural economists from Kansas State University, Michigan State University and Maastricht University in the Netherlands recently reported results of an international study comparing consumer perceptions of beef safety in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Japan. Their results indicate that consumers in Japan and Mexico are generally more concerned about the safety of beef than those in the United States and Canada. U.S. and Canadian consumers, for example, generally believe beef is safe, and consider E. coli O157:H7 as the greatest beef safety risk. About 60 percent consider BSE a low or very low risk. But in Japan, over 50 percent of the respondents rated BSE as a high or very high risk. The researchers say that better understanding of food safety perceptions will allow policy makers and agricultural industries to better respond to food safety events and design food safety management strategies based on consumer perceptions of risk. For more information, follow this link.

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