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CONSUMER ASSESSMENT OF THE SAFETY OF RESTAURANTS: THE ROLE OF INSPECTION NOTICES AND OTHER INFORMATION CUES
Author(s) -
HENSON SPENCER,
MAJOWICZ SHAN,
MASAKURE OLIVER,
SOCKETT PAUL,
JONES ANDRIA,
HART ROBERT,
CARR DEBORAH,
KNOWLES LEWINDA
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of food safety
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.427
H-Index - 43
eISSN - 1745-4565
pISSN - 0149-6085
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-4565.2006.00049.x
Subject(s) - credence , food safety , business , quality (philosophy) , marketing , focus group , advertising , environmental health , medicine , philosophy , statistics , mathematics , epistemology , pathology
This paper explores the ways in which consumers assess the safety of food in restaurants and other eating‐out establishments, and the resulting impact on restaurant choice. The analysis builds on the existing literature on restaurant choice more generally and a growing body of studies on the impact of official inspection information on the perceived safety of restaurants. Based on a two‐stage consumer study in the City of Hamilton in Ontario, Canada, involving focus groups and a postal survey, the research highlights how consumers base their assessment of food safety in restaurants using a range of visible indicators of the experience and/or credence characteristics associated with foodborne illness. These include their observed judgments of restaurant hygiene, the overall quality of the restaurant, external information, including official inspection certificates, and the level of patronage. The use of these broad groups of indicators varies across consumer subgroups according to gender, age, level of education and recollections of past incidences when a restaurant was closed and/or convicted for food safety reasons.