The Effect of BSE: Consumer Perceptions and Beef Purchasing Behaviour

Abstract

Examines the perceptions of consumers towards beef and beef products following the 1990 outbreak of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) and changes in purchasing behaviour by a survey, in 1991, of a total of 252 consumers in two locations. Results indicate that risk perceptions towards seven beef products varied and although this was not related to the age of consumers it did differ according to changes in purchasing behaviour at the time of the outbreak: 31.3 per cent of respondents changed their beef consumption at the time of the scare but the proportion of consumers persisting with consumption change fell over time.