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Abstract
Mycotoxins contamination in food is a serious source of health risks. This
paper evaluates the Italian consumers’ perception of the mycotoxins’ risk through
their willingness to pay (WTP) for a hypothetical bottle of milk obtained by cows fed
with, inter alia, maize certified for the “good practices” (GPs) that reduce this risk.
Therefore, a web-based stated choice experiment (SCE) has been carried out involving
a representative sample of 973 Italian consumers and the WTP has been measured
using the panel data version of a Random Parameters Logit (RPL) model. Results
show that Italian consumers are willing to pay a 29% average price premium for
“reduced-mycotoxins” milk. This premium increases for consumers between 44 and
54 years of age, who are students, have completed tertiary education, are economically
well-off and shop fairly infrequently.