Thesis (BS Agribusiness Economics) University of the Philippines Mindanao, 2024

Consumers are becoming more conscious in purchasing their food needs due to the rising cases of foodborne illnesses, oftenly linked to inadequate food safety practices. Furthermore, among meat sold at wet markets, pork exhibited the highest prevalence of Salmonella contamination. This study aims to analyze the importance of informational attributes such as origin, type of brand, and presence and absence of food safety certifications (HACCP ad GAHP) against food quality claims. Conjoint analysis was utilized to analyze consumer preference for information attributes to determine utility estimates and relative importance. In the preference model, origin (28.813%) and type of brand (28.701%) exhibited the highest relative importance, but brand displayed positive utilities. Two major segments of pork consumers (N=263) were clustered in terms of their informational preferences, namely origin-focused (36.474%) and brand conscious group (31.449%). Using binary logistic regression (N=225), the factors affecting preferences were age, household income, supermarket choice, health benefits motivator, and environmental concern motivator. Overall, branding plays an important in the decision-making processes of port consumers in Davao City. Thus, to bridge the gap in consumer understanding of food safety certifications, branding efforts can be intensified to emphasize the importance of certifications such as HACCP and GAHP in ensuring safe food.