Calibrating risk perception in household food safety: A mixed-methods field trial of framing and regulatory fit.

Food safety remains a critical global challenge. In recent years, China has placed increasing emphasis on food safety through household-level education. However, campaigns focusing on knowledge dissemination have demonstrated limited effectiveness because of the knowledge-behaviour gap. Evidence suggests that consumers' risk perceptions, defined as their subjective assessments of the health risks associated with improper household food-handling behaviours (HFHBs), influence behaviour more strongly than knowledge alone. This study identified previously unrecognised determinants of risk perception and developed and evaluated a novel intervention targeting perceptions of the risks associated with two critical improper HFHBs: cross-contamination and improper storage of leftovers. Semi-structured interviews with 27 residents identified three previously unrecognised factors influencing risk perception: simplification of complex risks, blunted perception of future risks, and high discounting of future risks. Guided by these insights, we developed gain- and loss-framed intervention videos. However, the gain-framed video was excluded from the formal experiments because it produced a weak framing effect in the pretest. Two field trials-a randomised controlled trial (N = 295) and a single-factor between-subjects experiment (N = 280)-subsequently confirmed that the loss-framed intervention videos significantly enhanced consumers' risk perceptions. Furthermore, intervention effects were significantly enhanced when loss-framed messages matched individuals' prevention regulatory focus, demonstrating a regulatory fit effect. To our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate both framing and regulatory fit effects in household food safety interventions. The findings provide public health agencies with validated, ready-to-use intervention materials and a replicable, evidence-based framework for designing behavioural interventions in other public health domains.