Agric. Econ. - Czech, 2010, 56(2):67-78 | DOI: 10.17221/18/2009-AGRICECON

Perceived risks and safety concerns about fluid milk among Chinese college students

Pei XU¹, Shi ZHENG², Mesbah MOTAMED³

¹ School of Agriculture and Natural Resources, State University of New York at Morrisville, Morrisville, New York, U.S.A.

² School of Business, Renmin University of China, Beijing, Beijing, China

³ Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University, West Lafayette,

The study uses the questionnaire information collected through personal interviews with college students at a large university in Beijing, China to discuss the students' perceived milk risks and their milk safety concerns. We analyzed the milk risks perceived by students and found out that the top three listed risks are: (1) the use of low quality materials in milk packaging; (2) bacteria contaminations in milk production and processing; and (3) unsafe milk caused by the use of cow antibiotics. The binomial probit regression analysis shows that the health conscious milk consumers who consume milk frequently are likely to be worried about the safety of milk. Wealthy students from a household of three members or more are likely to be concerned about the milk safety. This study demonstrates that the current government efforts to raise milk consumption among college students are insufficient. Policies that reduce the perceived risks can be an effective strategy to raise milk consumption among the educated youth.

Keywords: perceived milk risks, milk consumption behaviour, Chinese college students' milk consumption, milk safety regulations

Published: February 28, 2010  Show citation