Speaker Jonathan Bauchet - Risky Bites: Food Safety in Informal Markets
- Event Type
- Seminar/Symposium
- Sponsor
- ACE (Dept of Agricultural and Consumer Economics)
- Location
- 428 Mumford Hall
- Virtual
- Join online
- Date
- Dec 5, 2025 12:00 - 1:00 pm
- Speaker
- Dr. Jonathan Bauchet, Associate Professor, Purdue University
- Views
- 20
- Originating Calendar
- ACE Seminars
Abstract
Foodborne diseases impose substantial health and economic burdens globally, with disproportionately high effects in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) due to weak regulation and enforcement, and pervasive information asymmetries that discourage investments in food safety. This study focuses on cyanide contamination in cassava, a staple for millions in sub-Saharan Africa and other LMICs, and tests whether a market for cyanide-safe gari – a grit-like food that is the most common form of cassava consumption – exists by analyzing both supply and demand conditions. On the supply side, we randomly assigned 1,200 small-scale rural gari processors to receive training, or training + a price premium for producing gari with cyanide below the WHO-recommended 10 ppm level. On the demand side, we used Becker-Degroot-Marschak auctions to measure consumers’ willingness to pay for 3 types of gari with various safety standards. Training processors reduced cyanide levels by 58% on average versus a control group, while combining training with a price incentive yielded a larger reduction of 69%. On average, processors required a modest price premium of about 13% of the prevailing price to produce cyanide-safe gari, which was significantly lower than the 31% premium that consumers were willing to pay for gari processed by a trained farmer. The findings provide new information on the size of the price premium required for small-scale processors to adopt food safety-enhancing practices, and indicate that a market for safe gari can exist, but highlight that solving information gaps and asymmetries remains a key condition for the trade of safe food in informal markets.