Which Consumer Perceptions Should Be Used in Food Waste Reduction Campaigns: Food Security, Food Safety or Environmental Concerns?

Consumer food waste linked to restaurants and canteens has been a long-standing serious problem in China, which hungers for an effective solution. Although government and media have launched campaigns against food waste, limited information on consumer perceptions is provided in helping to guide campaign programs. The influence of perception associated with low food waste is lacking, along with targeting campaigns based on these perceptions. This research aims to fill this gap. The purpose of this paper is to identify consumption perceptions about food waste in the Chinese urban restaurant sector, so that they can be used in social marketing to promote food waste reduction behaviors. Employing Probit models using survey data collected, we found that food security and environmental perceptions are associated with low food waste. Campaigns directed toward reducing food waste should target raising awareness of food security alert and environmental concerns that are more generally appealing to altruistic spirits.