The influence of food safety awareness on consumer risk perceptions and purchase intentions of counterfeit food products in vulnerable urban communities in Johannesburg, South Africa

Abstract

The circulation of counterfeit food within South Africa’s mixed formal–informal retail system poses a growing public‑health and consumer‑protection threat, with the Gauteng province reporting over 200 food‑borne illness cases and more than 10 child fatalities in Johannesburg city in 2024 (Mphaga et al., 2024). These events have prompted national urgency, culminating in the President declaring counterfeit food a national security concern (RSA Presidency, 2024). Beyond its human toll, counterfeit food fuels the wider illicit‑goods economy, generating financial leakages, weakening tax collection, eroding intellectual‑property protections, and undermining confidence in the food‑system governance (Boatemaa et al., 2019; Khader, 2023; Lamont, 2024). While enforcement responses have largely targeted the supply side interventions—through raids, seizures, and the shutdown of illicit operations—limited attention has been paid to the demand‑side behavioural mechanisms shaping consumer decisions at the direct point of purchase (Mphaga et al., 2024) resulting in an imbalanced approach to addressing the circulation and consumption of counterfeit food in South Africa. Existing scholarship emphasises the need to understand how Consumer Food Safety Awareness (CFSA) informs consumer behaviour, especially in affordability‑constrained mixed‑market environments marked by inconsistent institutional oversight (Boatemaa et al., 2019; Onyeaka et al., 2022). Against this backdrop, the present study examined how CFSA shapes risk perceptions, PMT appraisals, attitudes, and willingness to buy counterfeit food among Johannesburg consumers in the LSM 4–8 segment. Critically, the study offers a novel theoretical contribution through the application of an integrated Protection Motivation Theory (PMT)–Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) framework to counterfeit food. This integrated approach enabled the testing of a sequential behavioural pathway to explain consumer decision making in affordability constrained mixed market environment using a quantitative cross‑sectional design (n = 372) and Partial Least Squares‑Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The findings from the study demonstrate that CFSA functions as an active behavioural antecedent, elevating perceived severity and reducing response barriers. These PMT appraisals shaped attitudes in opposite directions, and attitude emerged as the strongest predictor of willingness to buy, mediating both appraisals. This shows that awareness alone is insufficient; behavioural change requires both heightened risk perceptions and feasible avoidance pathways. The study thus extends PMT–TRA theory into a new domain and offers practical recommendations and guidance for strengthening CFSA, reducing response barriers, and promoting avoidance‑oriented attitudes to curb counterfeit‑food circulation and consumption in South Africa and Global South markets.