Modelling functional food choice and health care impacts: A literature review

The global market for functional foods is estimated to be worth about US$33 billion (Hilliam, 2000). Given the information asymmetry inherent in functional foods, labelling information plays a key role in allowing consumers to make informed choices. Understanding consumer choices with respect to functional foods is an important new area of research. Several potential consumer choice models are available to assess consumer choices for functional food. This paper provides an overview of key consumer research questions, and a review of several different models, including the Stated Preference Choice Model with Discrete Choice Analysis, Dependent Preference Model, and modified Protection Motivation Theory.