Responsible antibiotic use labeling and consumers' willingness to buy and pay for fluid milk
ABSTRACT: Concerns about antibiotic resistant infections in the United States have called for reduction of antibiotic use in livestock, including dairy cattle. Although effective in curbing antibiotic use, universal organic dairy farming would be impractical and unattainable due to its high land and...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2023-01-01
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| Series: | Journal of Dairy Science |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022030222006245 |
| _version_ | 1828116774194774016 |
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| author | Robert Charles Schell Ece Bulut Hannah Padda Amelia Greiner Safi Paolo Moroni Renata Ivanek |
| author_facet | Robert Charles Schell Ece Bulut Hannah Padda Amelia Greiner Safi Paolo Moroni Renata Ivanek |
| author_sort | Robert Charles Schell |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | ABSTRACT: Concerns about antibiotic resistant infections in the United States have called for reduction of antibiotic use in livestock, including dairy cattle. Although effective in curbing antibiotic use, universal organic dairy farming would be impractical and unattainable due to its high land and premium demands. The US Department of Agriculture's organic certification, which completely eliminates antibiotic use in milk production, also raises animal welfare concerns, as it could discourage the use of antibiotics even to treat indicated diseases. Therefore, a proposed alternative for US consumers is a label indicating the responsible antibiotic use (RAU) – not complete elimination – that would minimize antibiotics more than conventional (unlabeled) milk and maximize animal welfare more than organic milk. Our goal was to determine consumers' (1) self-reported preference and (2) willingness to pay for this hypothetical RAU label of milk relative to existing substitutes in organic and unlabeled fluid milk. We conducted (1) a nationally representative survey of US adults and (2) a randomized non-hypothetical experimental Becker-Degroot-Marschak auction with real money and real milk. Although almost half of the survey participants (48.5%) responded that they would buy a RAU-labeled milk, consumers in the experimental auction refused to pay a significant premium for the milk compared with unlabeled milk (mean willingness to pay (95% confidence interval) per half-gallon: $1.92 ($1.65–$2.19) for RAU-labeled milk versus $1.86 ($1.58–$2.13) for unlabeled milk). These results suggest that consumers' survey-identified preferences for RAU-labeled milk could reflect either social desirability bias or a genuine preference for which, however, consumers simply will not pay a significant premium. The study provides preliminary data for future exploration of marketability of the proposed RAU label in the United States and demonstrates the benefits of using complementary survey and experimental auction approaches to understand the potential market for a new dairy product. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T13:03:27Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-12cdebf963a045088a7ae0a7b32cc93c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0022-0302 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T13:03:27Z |
| publishDate | 2023-01-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Dairy Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-12cdebf963a045088a7ae0a7b32cc93c2022-12-22T04:22:52ZengElsevierJournal of Dairy Science0022-03022023-01-011061132150Responsible antibiotic use labeling and consumers' willingness to buy and pay for fluid milkRobert Charles Schell0Ece Bulut1Hannah Padda2Amelia Greiner Safi3Paolo Moroni4Renata Ivanek5Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853; Division of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health, University of California–Berkeley 94720; Corresponding authorDepartment of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853; Department of Communication, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853Department of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853; Dipartimento di Medicina Veterinaria e Scienze Animali, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via dell'Università, 6, 26900 Lodi, LO, ItalyDepartment of Population Medicine and Diagnostic Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853ABSTRACT: Concerns about antibiotic resistant infections in the United States have called for reduction of antibiotic use in livestock, including dairy cattle. Although effective in curbing antibiotic use, universal organic dairy farming would be impractical and unattainable due to its high land and premium demands. The US Department of Agriculture's organic certification, which completely eliminates antibiotic use in milk production, also raises animal welfare concerns, as it could discourage the use of antibiotics even to treat indicated diseases. Therefore, a proposed alternative for US consumers is a label indicating the responsible antibiotic use (RAU) – not complete elimination – that would minimize antibiotics more than conventional (unlabeled) milk and maximize animal welfare more than organic milk. Our goal was to determine consumers' (1) self-reported preference and (2) willingness to pay for this hypothetical RAU label of milk relative to existing substitutes in organic and unlabeled fluid milk. We conducted (1) a nationally representative survey of US adults and (2) a randomized non-hypothetical experimental Becker-Degroot-Marschak auction with real money and real milk. Although almost half of the survey participants (48.5%) responded that they would buy a RAU-labeled milk, consumers in the experimental auction refused to pay a significant premium for the milk compared with unlabeled milk (mean willingness to pay (95% confidence interval) per half-gallon: $1.92 ($1.65–$2.19) for RAU-labeled milk versus $1.86 ($1.58–$2.13) for unlabeled milk). These results suggest that consumers' survey-identified preferences for RAU-labeled milk could reflect either social desirability bias or a genuine preference for which, however, consumers simply will not pay a significant premium. The study provides preliminary data for future exploration of marketability of the proposed RAU label in the United States and demonstrates the benefits of using complementary survey and experimental auction approaches to understand the potential market for a new dairy product.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022030222006245antibioticswillingness to paydairy milkexperimental auctionsurvey |
| spellingShingle | Robert Charles Schell Ece Bulut Hannah Padda Amelia Greiner Safi Paolo Moroni Renata Ivanek Responsible antibiotic use labeling and consumers' willingness to buy and pay for fluid milk Journal of Dairy Science antibiotics willingness to pay dairy milk experimental auction survey |
| title | Responsible antibiotic use labeling and consumers' willingness to buy and pay for fluid milk |
| title_full | Responsible antibiotic use labeling and consumers' willingness to buy and pay for fluid milk |
| title_fullStr | Responsible antibiotic use labeling and consumers' willingness to buy and pay for fluid milk |
| title_full_unstemmed | Responsible antibiotic use labeling and consumers' willingness to buy and pay for fluid milk |
| title_short | Responsible antibiotic use labeling and consumers' willingness to buy and pay for fluid milk |
| title_sort | responsible antibiotic use labeling and consumers willingness to buy and pay for fluid milk |
| topic | antibiotics willingness to pay dairy milk experimental auction survey |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022030222006245 |
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