Influence of Risk Severity and Intentionality on Perceptions of Food Contamination Risks among Pregnant Women: An Experimental Investigation

Given the potential for severe health consequences of consuming contaminated foods during pregnancy, effective communication of food contamination risks to pregnant women is especially important. This study examines pregnant women’s risk perceptions and intentions to adopt risk-reduction behaviors following exposure to a simulated news story about a food contamination incident. The news story was experimentally manipulated to depict the severity of the incident as high or low and the cause of the incident as accidental or intentional. Results showed that both severity and intentionality of the incident elevated pregnant women’s perceptions of getting sick as well as their intentions to temporarily reduce consumption of the contaminated food product and to seek more information. Implications of these findings for effectively communicating food contamination risks to pregnant women are discussed.