Food scares have increased consumer food safety concern, particularly for beef. Traceability and food quality labels have been put in place to communicate to consumers the safety characteristics of the specially labelled beef in hopes of recovering confidence and consumption. As a consequence, production costs have increased, and thereby consumer prices as well. In this paper, we develop a conceptual model capable of analyzing the main factors influencing consumers’ willingness to pay for certified beef. A three-equation recursive model is jointly estimated which accounts for the main steps in the consumer decision process. Results indicate that income, level of beef consumption, the average price consumers pay for beef and the perception of beef safety are the main determinants of Spanish consumers’ willingness to pay for certified beef.

Examines and compares wine attribute preferences within and between two different Spanish regions, Aragón and Navarra, by means of the weighted least squares approach for conjoint analysis. Uses three attributes in the conjoint design: price, origin and grape vintage year. Among these attributes, Navarra consumers assigned more importance to the origin of the wine, followed by price and grape vintage year. Aragón consumers also considered origin as the most important attribute, followed, in this case, by grape vintage year and price. Comparing the different attribute levels, consumers from Aragón preferred locally produced and cheaper wines, while consumers from Navarra preferred Rioja and more expensive wines. Identifies and characterizes four wine consumer segments. Describes how a market simulation experiment was designed to simulate market shares of three alternative wine profiles.

Food waste prevention is a hot topic on the policy agenda. According to available data, urgent measures need to be undertaken to significantly reduce the current generation of food waste. However, it is important to thoroughly understand consumers' behaviour to define measures that will lead to a long-lasting change in the situation. The aim of the present work is to analyse consumer food waste behaviour by means of a model that brings together food-related and waste management variables. To do so, a survey was given to 418 consumers of the metropolitan area of Barcelona. Results show that food waste is directly influenced by purchasing discipline, waste prevention habits and materialism values and indirectly influenced by environmental values. This highlights the importance of addressing the problem from different perspectives and emphasizes the importance of considering this problem as a transversal element for policy makers. We suggest that household food waste prevention and reduction needs to be included as a key element in different policy areas.Postprint (published version