Yang Hu

This study examines how date‐labeling formats and information disclosure shape Chinese online consumers' food‐waste behavior, using a vignette experiment with 1122 respondents analyzed across three products (fresh milk, chips, nuts). The longer a product has been past its labeled date, the less willing consumers are to consume it: relative to long‐expired items, just‐expired milk, chips, and nuts are 41%, 126%, and 93% more likely to be consumed, respectively. For milk, a direct date label lowers the odds of consumption by 27% relative to an indirect label (odds ratio = 0.73, p < 0.01), whereas format has no effect for chips and nuts. After providing the definition of date labels in the survey, the mean likelihood of consuming all types of food increased across all scenarios. For milk, the direct‐label group experienced a larger increase in consumption willingness after the intervention, thereby eliminating the difference attributable to label format (the difference between indirect and direct labeling fell from 0.207 ( p = 0.007) to a nonsignificant 0.023 ( p = 0.778)). Therefore, we recommend adding explanatory text on packaging and continuously carrying out consumer education and awareness campaigns to help consumers distinguish between “end of guaranteed quality” and “food safety boundary.” In addition, these efforts should be complemented by technologies that extend the shelf life of perishable products.

The rapid growth of the digital economy underscores the importance of investigating how internet penetration influences dietary quality in rural households, as such insights can inform broader efforts to improve the well‐being of rural residents. Using data from the 2020 China Rural Revitalization Survey (CRRS), this study examines the impact of internet penetration on the dietary quality of rural households in China. Our empirical findings show that greater internet access significantly improves dietary quality, primarily by alleviating dietary inadequacy. Further analysis reveals that this effect persists even after controlling household‐level internet usage intensity. Moreover, internet penetration generates notable spillover effects, effectively reducing dietary excess among households that do not use the internet. In addition, we identify two key mechanisms through which internet access affects dietary outcomes: enhanced nutritional and healthy cognition and improved access to more diverse food markets. Specifically, internet penetration raises the probability of dietary knowledge acquisition among internet‐using households, leading to improvements in dietary adequacy. It also enhances the availability of diverse food options, which further contributes to better dietary quality. For non‐internet‐using households, the main pathway lies in improved health consciousness, which helps address problems of dietary excess.

People who received a more personally relevant message were motivated to pay closer attention to the information and actively process it, which ultimately may stimulate behavioral changes. Therefore, preferred information content has been used in many disciplines to promote effective communication. However, no study has explored the impact of preferred information formats (e.g., word, infographic, and video) concerning food production. With the increasing application of biotechnology to food production, a complex topic to communicate, and evidence that consumers were willing to pay less for bioengineered foods, efficient communication was important to impact consumer preferences. The results of this study showed that consumers mostly preferred information format is writing. Providing information in video format did improve consumers’ trust in information about food biotechnology. However, receiving information in consumers’ preferred formats did not significantly change consumers’ WTP for genetically engineered orange juice.