Consumers’ purchasing behaviour and quality preferences for pork sold in the informal street markets of the Cape Metropole, South Africa

The current study evaluated the factors influencing the purchasing behaviour and pork quality preferences of 211 consumers in the Cape Metropole District, South Africa. Two-thirds of the participants bought cooked pork from the informal street markets because of affordability (36%), convenience (34%), and price (41%). Most consumers preferred grilled (87%), well done (68%) and bone-in (57%) meat of moderate lean thickness (48%). Cut type (33% of consumers) and taste (52%) were the most important pork quality indicators. Prior to purchasing pork, 70% of consumers performed a safety assessment, mostly based on pork appearance (40%). Two-thirds of consumers indicated their willingness to pay more for safe pork. Marginal effects from logistic regression showed that the likelihood of consumers to assess pork safety was positively influenced (P ≤ 0.05) by gender and education level, while the source of income, income class, and education level positively influenced (P ≤ 0.05) consumers' willingness to pay more for safe pork. Findings suggest that policy and development interventions by the government and municipalities to match quality attributes of pork to the preferences of consumers in the informal urban street markets should target specific sub-groups of the population, particularly females, low-income earners and the less educated.