Browsing labels in the meat aisle can be confusing, especially when it comes to the word “natural.”
New research shows consumers not only misinterpret the label, they’re willing to pay significantly more for “natural” steak when they’re unfamiliar with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) definition. A petition to the USDA claims that natural labeling misleads consumers.
Carola Grebitus, assistant professor of food industry management at the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University, and her co-authors investigated this claim by conducting an online experiment using 663 beef-eating consumers. The researchers tested their willingness to pay for steak labeled with different attributes — natural, grass-fed or corn-fed, fed without genetically modified feed, produced without growth hormones, and no antibiotics. Half of the participants were provided with the definition of natural, while half were not.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Arizona State University
