We are proud to announce that Associate Professor Vivian Hoffmann has been awarded Best Article in Agricultural Economics 2022 for her paper “Can information drive demand for safer food? Impact of brand-specific recommendations and test results on product choice” with coauthor Sarah Wairimu Kariuki (CIMMYT).
Agricultural Economics is the journal of the International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE) and it serves them by disseminating important research in that discipline from across the world. Professor Hoffmann is cross-appointed at Carleton University between the Department of Economics and the School of Public Policy and Administration.
Food safety is a major public health issue in low-income countries, where regulations tend to be poorly enforced. This paper finds that providing consumers with test results on food safety hazards present in food, and recommendations for safer alternatives, significantly affects their food choices. Such recommendations could be used to grow the market share of safer products, and provide companies with incentives to invest in food safety.
The IAAE confers this honour once a year to the most outstanding article published in the journals, a practice that began in 2008 and to which Professor Hoffmann and Sarah Wairimu Kariuki are the most recent recipients. Congratulations on this achievement Professor Hoffman!