Firm heterogeneity in food safety provision: Evidence from aflatoxin tests in Kenya

How can food safety be provided in the absence of regulatory enforcement? What can explain heterogeneous responses to unenforced regulation across firms when certain food safety characteristics are unobservable to the consumer? Using data from over 900 maize flour samples representing 23 distinct br...

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Autores principales: Moser, Christine, Hoffmann, Vivian, Ordonez, Romina
Formato: Conference Paper
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/149389
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author Moser, Christine
Hoffmann, Vivian
Ordonez, Romina
author_browse Hoffmann, Vivian
Moser, Christine
Ordonez, Romina
author_facet Moser, Christine
Hoffmann, Vivian
Ordonez, Romina
author_sort Moser, Christine
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description How can food safety be provided in the absence of regulatory enforcement? What can explain heterogeneous responses to unenforced regulation across firms when certain food safety characteristics are unobservable to the consumer? Using data from over 900 maize flour samples representing 23 distinct brands in eastern and central Kenya, this paper explores the relationship between price, brand and aflatoxin contamination. Aflatoxin is a toxin common in maize, groundnuts and other crops around the world and, while it is unobservable to the consumer, it may be correlated with other quality characteristics. We find a strong negative correlation between price and contamination rates, which is consistent with certain brands investing more in quality to avoid loss of reputational capital.
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spelling CGSpace1493892025-11-06T05:42:25Z Firm heterogeneity in food safety provision: Evidence from aflatoxin tests in Kenya Moser, Christine Hoffmann, Vivian Ordonez, Romina brand capital maize food safety aflatoxins markets How can food safety be provided in the absence of regulatory enforcement? What can explain heterogeneous responses to unenforced regulation across firms when certain food safety characteristics are unobservable to the consumer? Using data from over 900 maize flour samples representing 23 distinct brands in eastern and central Kenya, this paper explores the relationship between price, brand and aflatoxin contamination. Aflatoxin is a toxin common in maize, groundnuts and other crops around the world and, while it is unobservable to the consumer, it may be correlated with other quality characteristics. We find a strong negative correlation between price and contamination rates, which is consistent with certain brands investing more in quality to avoid loss of reputational capital. 2014 2024-08-01T02:49:19Z 2024-08-01T02:49:19Z Conference Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/149389 en Open Access application/pdf Agricultural and Applied Economics Association Moser, Christine; Hoffmann, Vivian; and Ordonez, Romina. 2014. Firm heterogeneity in food safety provision: Evidence from aflatoxin tests in Kenya. Selected Paper prepared for presentation at the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association’s 2014 AAEA Annual Meeting, Minneapolis, Minnesota, July 27-29, 2014. Milwaukee, WI, USA: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA). https://purl.umn.edu/170588
spellingShingle brand capital
maize
food safety
aflatoxins
markets
Moser, Christine
Hoffmann, Vivian
Ordonez, Romina
Firm heterogeneity in food safety provision: Evidence from aflatoxin tests in Kenya
title Firm heterogeneity in food safety provision: Evidence from aflatoxin tests in Kenya
title_full Firm heterogeneity in food safety provision: Evidence from aflatoxin tests in Kenya
title_fullStr Firm heterogeneity in food safety provision: Evidence from aflatoxin tests in Kenya
title_full_unstemmed Firm heterogeneity in food safety provision: Evidence from aflatoxin tests in Kenya
title_short Firm heterogeneity in food safety provision: Evidence from aflatoxin tests in Kenya
title_sort firm heterogeneity in food safety provision evidence from aflatoxin tests in kenya
topic brand capital
maize
food safety
aflatoxins
markets
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/149389
work_keys_str_mv AT moserchristine firmheterogeneityinfoodsafetyprovisionevidencefromaflatoxintestsinkenya
AT hoffmannvivian firmheterogeneityinfoodsafetyprovisionevidencefromaflatoxintestsinkenya
AT ordonezromina firmheterogeneityinfoodsafetyprovisionevidencefromaflatoxintestsinkenya