Urban consumers' attitudes towards the safety of milk powder after the melamine scandal in 2008 and the factors influencing the attitudes

Purpose - This paper aims to analyze the factors that influence urban consumers' attitudes towards food safety after the melamine scandal. Design/methodology/approach - Based on the research about the attitudes of urban consumers in Nanjing towards the safety of milk powder after the melamine scandal in 2008, this paper adopts the ordered logit model to test which factors significantly influence consumers' attitudes. Findings - The findings suggest that: first, there is a common concern among consumers about the safety of milk powder after the melamine scandal; second, according to the research, the concern is in inverse relation to the level of educational attainment, consumers' awareness of food safety incidents and their opinion of governments' action after the incident. Moreover, those who always have a concern about the safety of the alternatives to milk powder are more easily affected. Originality/value - Different from other researches, the paper focuses on consumers' attitudes towards food safety by studying a specific case, namely the melamine scandal.