Level of Awareness and Willingness to Pay for Safe Milk: A Study of Urban Consumers in North India

Milk adulteration and contamination pose a serious challenge for the dairy sector. Consumer awareness of food safety can be crucial in addressing this problem, especially in the countries with limited regulatory resources. The present study attempts to assess consumer milk safety awareness and also estimate their Willingness to Pay for safe milk. The data required for the study was collected from 270 milk consuming households in North India which was then analysed by using contingent valuation method, regression analysis and index construction. The overall milk safety awareness index was found to be 0.73. Awareness on milk safety was found to be low among 29 per cent of the sample households. Consumers were particularly ignorant of the legislations related to food safety, sources of milk contamination and milk adulteration detection kits. Awareness can be increased on these aspects through campaigns, television and social media. Level of milk safety awareness increased with household income, quantity of milk purchased and education level of household head. It was also higher in the case of households having pregnant women and nursing mothers. Marginal Willingness to Pay for safe milk was found to be Rs. 6/ litre. The establishment of a system for milk safety certification will aid dairy farmers in receiving premiums for their safe and clean milk.