Effects of HACCP and Eco Labels on Japanese Consumers’ Choice of Milk

The purpose of this study is to examine the importance of the price, freshness, use of the HACCP label, and use of the Eco label (the latent attribute of the milk produced from the raw milk of dairy farms that comply with The Law, which protects the environment by legally enforcing manure treatment) in Japanese consumers’ milk purchasing decisions. We employ Choice Modeling to quantify the welfare change associated with the change in the levels of these attributes for a sample of Japanese consumers taken in December 2000. We found that consumers have a positive perception of the HACCP label, the Eco-milk label, and the freshness of the milk.