Perceived Food Safety Scale

What it measures

Measures the degree to which a consumer believes a specific food product is safe to consume, based on information provided about it prior to any direct tasting or consumption. The scale captures anticipated food safety judgements from a combination of overall safety ratings, quality-level appraisals, and contamination risk assessments.

Scale items

• Based on the information provided, how safe do you think it is to consume this product? (anchors: not safe at all / very safe)
• I think that the food safety level of this product is: very poor / very good
• Given the information shown, do you think that it is likely or unlikely that the _____ product has germs that could make you sick? (anchors: very unlikely / very likely) (r)

Full scale items shown. Always cite the original source when using this scale in research.

Usage notes & scoring

Used by Berry et al. (2015) in Studies 1 (n = 123) and 2 (n = 183), both with MTurk adult panels, in the context of country-of-origin labelling for retail food. Developed from concepts and phrasing in a U.S. FDA Food Safety Survey (Lando & Carlton 2011). Alphas were .87 (Study 1) and .90 (Study 2). Discriminant validity was established with three other scales in the model (exact statistical details were not provided, but each factor's AVE exceeded its squared correlation with each other factor). Items assume the participant has seen or read information about the product but has not yet tasted it; they capture anticipated rather than experienced safety. Items 1 and 2 use bipolar anchors embedded in the item text. Item 3 is reverse-coded and uses a blank for the product name. Study instructions should direct attention to a specific food product.

Citation

Berry, C., Mukherjee, A., Burton, S., & Howlett, E. (2015). A COOL effect: The direct and indirect impact of country-of-origin disclosures on purchase intentions for retail food products. Journal of Retailing, 91(3), 533-542.

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