Consumer’s attitudes versus the beef meat in Italy

Consumers are over reactìve to news released by media about food safety: epidemiologie hazard, pathological disease, genetic manipulation, OGM, hormones and others are perceived as potential sources of health risk. The aim of this paper is twofold: i) to explore in Italy the latest changes in consumer's perceptions of the beef meat safety after BSE; ii) to indicate the factors causing attitudinal changes affecting the purchasing behaviour for this products. Using a factor design model it was demonstrated that consumers have absorbed the negative shocks of BSE and appreciate the information released with new procedures to guarantee the food safety. The conclusions were that these events increased the perception of risk for health and emphasized the need to prevent consumer scares by improving the product's image.