Consumer Response to a New Food Safety Issue: Food Terrorism
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VIII. CONCLUSION Consumers in the United States in 2005 would allocate 13% more total dollars to defending the food system than the airline system against terrorist attacks. Based on current spending by the U.S. federal government to protect airline travel, this implies that $5.65 billion should be spent to protect the food system compared to the $93 million allocated to protect the food supply chain in the federal budget year 2007. Private companies are increasing their expenditures and vigilance related to food defense as well. In deciding how to defend the food system and to recover after a potential attack, understanding the preferences and behavior of consumers is important. Eliciting consumers’ help and helping to educate them as to what they can do in self-defense can minimize the catastrophic impact of a potential attack. Sharing information and defense tactics is in everyone’s best interest because defense of the nation’s food supply is truly a public good from which we can all benefit.1 REFERENCES Becker, G. S., & Rubinstein, Y. (2004). Fear and the Response to Terrorism: An Economic Analysis. Unpublished manuscript. Tel-Aviv University: University of Chicago Department of Economics and School of Economics. Kahneman, D., & Tversky, A. (1979). Prospect Theory: An Analysis of Decision Under Risk. Econometrica, 47, 263–291. Kennedy, S. P., & Busta, F. F. (2006). Biosecurity – Food Protection and Defense. In M. P. Doyle, & L. R. Beuchat (Eds), Fundamentals and Frontiers (3rd Edition). Washington D.C.: ASM Press. Food Microbiology. Kuchler, F., & Golan, E. (2006). Where Should the Money Go? Aligning Policies with Preferences. USDA, ERS, Washington D.C. Amber Waves 4: 3, 31–37. Lowrance, W. W. (1976). Of Acceptable Risk: Science and Determination of Safety. Los Altos, CA: William Kaufman. Stinson, T., Kinsey, J., Degeneffe, D., & Ghosh, K. (2006). How Should America’s Anti-Terrorism Budget Be Allocated? Findings from a National Survey of Attitudes of U.S. Residents. Working paper 01–06: The Food Industry Center, University of Minnesota, http://foodindustrycenter.umn.edu
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This research was conducted at The Food Industry Center, University of Minnesota. This research was supported by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (Grant number N-00014-04-1-0659), through a grant awarded to the National Center for Food Protection and Defense at the University of Minnesota. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not represent the policy or position of the Department of Homeland Security.