When perception distorts value: how freshness perception bias shapes consumers’ willingness to pay for cherry tomatoes under different biopreservative labels

Freshness, a pivotal sensory attribute shaping both the palatability of agricultural products and consumer dietary choices, remains a principal focus in consumer quality evaluation. However, subjective judgments of freshness frequently diverge from objectively measured freshness, resulting in perceptual biases that have been largely ignored in the literature. Using cherry tomatoes as the empirical context, this study quantifies freshness perception bias by comparing laboratory-measured freshness with consumers’ subjective evaluations. It further examines the effect of such bias on consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) and investigates the role of different biopreservative label formats in shaping freshness perceptions and subsequent decision-making. The findings reveal that freshness perception bias is pervasive, with both overestimation and underestimation of freshness distorting WTP. Biopreservative labels, as salient informational cues, significantly influence both the formation of perception bias and its economic consequences. Negatively framed labels reinforce unfavorable perceptions and amplify their dampening effect on WTP, whereas positively framed labels help correct biased perceptions and mitigate the adverse effects of freshness underestimation. This study provides one of the first empirical quantifications of freshness perception bias and its impact on WTP, and demonstrates the role of label presentation in correcting such bias. The findings offer important implications for the design of agri-food labeling systems and firms’ information communication strategies.