The consumer’s perception of artificial food additives: Influences on acceptance, risk and benefit perceptions

Food additives, such as food colours or sweeteners, play an important part in food supply. For a variety of reasons, some consumers might regard the use of food additives, especially artificial ones, with suspicion; food additives are considered unnatural, unhealthy or even a public health risk. The goal of this study was to investigate consumers’ perceptions and the most essential variables related to the acceptance of food additives. Two versions of a paper-and-pencil questionnaire, one investigating artificial food colours and the other investigating artificial sweeteners, were distributed to a large sample of Swiss German households. The final samples for artificial food colours and artificial sweeteners comprised 506 and 487 participants respectively. The questionnaires contained items on consumers’ acceptance, risk and benefit perception, trust in regulators, knowledge of regulation and their preference for natural products. The relationships between variables were investigated in a path model, which was constructed based on a review of previous literature. The path coefficients suggested that risk and benefit perceptions significantly influence the acceptance of the two selected food additives. The risk and benefit perceptions were influenced by consumers’ knowledge of regulation, their trust in regulators, and their preference for natural products. In the discussion, the study’s findings are examined in terms of their implications for further research and for the development of concrete communication materials.