Willingness to Pay for Enhanced Mandatory Labelling of Genetically Modified Soybean Oil: Evidence from a Choice Experiment in China.

This study investigates consumers' preferences for mandatory labelling conveying the health and safety attributes of genetically modified soybean oil. The enhanced mandatory labelling includes allergen presence labelling, nutrient and compositional change labelling and traceability codes. The data were collected from a consumer survey in the eastern, central and western regions of China, with a total sample size of 804 respondents. We evaluated consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for enhanced mandatory labelling using a choice experiment approach. The results show that Chinese consumers are most favorable to traceability codes with a WTP of RMB 8.92, followed by allergen presences labelling, with RMB 6.57. Eastern consumers would like to pay a higher premium for the three types of enhanced mandatory labelling information, while central consumers only show a positive preference for traceability codes. The results imply that the efforts and policy strategies for enhanced mandatory labelling will benefit residents. Further studies can be expended to other genetically modified (GM) foods. This study provides information for the agency to improve mandatory GM food labelling management. This paper contributes to the growing body of the GM food literature by explicitly investigating consumer preference and WTP for mandatory labelling conveying the health and safety attributes of the GM foods.

Consumer perception, mandatory labeling, and traceability of GM soybean oil: evidence from Chinese urban consumers.

Consumer preference for the mandatory labeling of genetically modified (GM) foods promotes public support for the implementation of GM food policies. This study analyzes consumers' preference for the traceability of GM soybean oil. Survey data were collected through a self-administered survey covering 804 randomly sampled urban residents in the eastern, central and western regions of China. Using a logit model, this analysis examines the impacts of influential factors on consumers' preference for traceability. The results show that about 56.5% of the respondents have a positive preference for the traceability of GM soybean oil. Factors increasing the preference for traceability include a better perception of the attributes of nutrition benefit and potential health risk, perceived inadequacy of simple mandatory labels, more attention paid to food labels, and distrust in the agencies overseeing GM food safety. Enhancing consumers' perceptions of GM-related attributes and awareness of food labels will help improve the mandatory labeling management of GM foods.

Non-Isothermal Oxidation Behaviors and Mechanisms of Ti-Al Intermetallic Compounds.

Non-isothermal oxidation is one of the important issues for the safe application of Ti-Al alloys, so this study aimed to illustrate the non-isothermal oxidation behaviors and the corresponding mechanisms of a TiAl-based alloy in comparison with a Ti3Al-based alloy. The non-isothermal oxidation behaviors of Ti-46Al-2Cr-5Nb and Ti-24Al-15Nb-1.5Mo alloys in pure oxygen were comparatively investigated with a thermogravimetry-differential scanning calorimetry (TGA/DSC) simultaneous thermal analyzer heating from room temperature to 1450 °C with a heating rate of 40 °C/min. When the temperature rose above 1280 °C, the oxidation rate of the Ti-46Al-2Cr-5Nb alloy sharply increased and exceeded that of the Ti-24Al-15Nb-1.5Mo alloy owing to the occurrence of internal oxidation. When the temperature was higher than 1350 °C, the oxidation rate of the Ti-46Al-2Cr-5Nb alloy decreased obviously due to the generation of an oxygen-barrier ß-Al2TiO5-rich layer by a chemical reaction between Al2O3 and TiO2 in the oxide scale. Based on Wagner's theory of internal oxidation, the reason for the occurrence of internal oxidation in the Ti-46Al-2Cr-5Nb alloy is the formation of the α phase in the subsurface, while no internal oxidation occurred in the Ti-24Al-15Nb-1.5Mo alloy due to the existence of the ß phase in the subsurface with the enrichment of Nb and Mo.

Non-Isothermal Oxidation Behavior and Mechanism of a High Temperature Near-α Titanium Alloy.

Non-isothermal oxidation is one of the important issues related to the safe application of high-temperature titanium alloys, so this study focuses on the non-isothermal oxidation behavior and mechanism of near-α titanium alloys. The thermogravimetry-differential scanning calorimetry (TGA/DSC) method was used to study the non-isothermal oxidation behavior of TA29 titanium alloy heated from room temperature to 1450 °C at a heating rate of 40 °C/min under pure oxygen atmosphere. The results show that non-isothermal oxidation behavior can be divided into five stages, including no oxidation, slow oxidation, accelerated oxidation, severe oxidation and deceleration oxidation; for the three-layer TiO2 scale, Zr, Nb, Ta are enriched in the intermediate layer, while Al is rich in the inner layer and Sn is segregated at the oxide-substrate interface, which is related to their diffusion rates in the subsurface α case. The oxidation mechanism for each stage is: oxygen barrier effect of a thin compact oxide film; oxygen dissolution; lattice transformation accelerating the dissolution and diffusion of oxygen; oxide formation; oxygen barrier effect of recrystallization and sintering microstructure in outer oxide scale. The alloying elements with high valence state and high diffusion rate in α-Ti are favorable to slow down the oxidation rate at the stage governed by oxide formation.