Benefit-Risk Trade-Offs: Chinese Consumers' Risk Acceptance for Premade Dishes With Potential Safety Hazards

Public perception of food safety hazards involves a complex process of weighing the perceived benefits and risks. Facing the controversy of food safety issues arising from premade dishes (PDs) entering campus and canteens, this study employed a benefit-risk analysis model to examine the mechanism of risk acceptance for PDs on 383 Chinese consumers and compare different consumption patterns in both domestic and commercial contexts. Results indicated that consumers' risk acceptance is positively associated with perceived benefits and negatively linked with perceived health risks. Perceived benefits and perceived health risks fully mediate the social trust-risk acceptance relationship and the health consciousness-risk acceptance association. Education, income, and familiarity with PDs moderate the relationships between individuals' health consciousness and perceived risks. Hygienic risks exhibit no significant impact in domestic context, while health consciousness and social trust jointly act as the key driving forces in a commercial context. This study draws the following conclusions: first, consumers' risk acceptance of PDs depends on perceived benefits outweighing potential risks. Second, perceived health risks associated with long-term effects and life threats play a decisive role in risk acceptance, outweighing perceived hygienic risks. Third, individuals with higher social trust tend to actively engage with institutional messaging, which in turn increases their perceived health risks. Fourth, consumers' risk acceptance is driven by the satisfaction of their intrinsic health needs through diversified PD types and external trust endorsement with a cautious evaluation of benefits and risks. This study offers insights into risk management strategies for stakeholders in the food safety of the PDs industry.