Irrelevant or significant? Effects of nudge-based messages for raising consumer awareness of feed given to cattle in Japan

Japan's reliance on imported livestock feed presents significant food security challenges, with the calorie-based self-sufficiency rate for beef dropping from 45 % to 12 % when adjusted for feed dependency. Despite initiatives such as feed rice and eco-feed to enhance domestic feed self-sufficiency and promote sustainability, public awareness remains low, and misconceptions about labels like “domestic beef” persist. Unlike consumers in the European Union, who focus on the labeling of feed composition and on transparency in livestock production, Japanese consumers rely primarily on product-level safety assurances. This study evaluates consumer awareness and preferences regarding livestock feed, identifies effective informational strategies (personal vs. social benefit framing), and measures their impacts. Using best-worst scaling, we calculated the share of preference to determine the importance of livestock feed in beef purchasing decisions. Difference-in-differences estimation was employed to analyze whether informational interventions influenced the share of preference compared to pre-information levels. Data were collected through two online surveys (February and March 2022) targeting recent beef buyers. The first survey (n = 2519) provided baseline data, while the second survey (n = 1356) included targeted messages emphasizing either personal benefits (price stability, meat quality) or social benefits (food self-sufficiency, food loss reduction). The results showed that livestock feed ranked low (third from bottom) among the purchasing factors, but targeted social-benefit messages, particularly those that link eco-feed to food loss reduction, significantly enhanced consumer awareness. This highlights the need for clear, strategic communication emphasizing social benefits to improve public understanding, inform consumer choices, and strengthen agricultural resilience.