Unlike physical losses, deterioration of food safety can be difficult to observe. In low- and middle- income countries, much of the food supply is never tested for safety hazards. We analyze data from 1500 maize samples and associated consumer surveys collected from clients of small-scale hammer mills in rural Kenya. We find that while visible damage to maize is penalized by lower prices, there is no correlation between price and aflatoxin, a carcinogenic fungal contaminant, implying an absence of market incentives to manage this aspect of food loss. Aflatoxin contamination is, however, correlated with consumer perceptions of quality, especially for self-produced maize, suggesting an information asymmetry that could lead to inefficiencies in this market.

中文翻译：

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玉米食品安全损失的可观察性：来自肯尼亚的证据

与物理损失不同，食品安全的恶化可能难以观察到。在低收入和中等收入国家，大部分食品供应从未经过安全危害检测。我们分析了 1500 个玉米样品的数据以及从肯尼亚农村小型锤磨机客户收集的相关消费者调查数据。我们发现，虽然玉米的明显损害会因较低的价格而受到惩罚，但价格与黄曲霉毒素（一种致癌真菌污染物）之间没有相关性，这意味着缺乏市场激励措施来管理这方面的粮食损失。然而，黄曲霉毒素污染与消费者对质量的看法有关，尤其是对于自产玉米而言，这表明信息不对称可能导致该市场效率低下。