Exploring Red Kidney Bean Flour As a Partial Substitute to Rice Flour in Gluten-free Ramen Noodles: Consumers’ WTP in Thailand

This study aims to elicit consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for gluten-free ramen noodles, exploring the alternative flour formulation of red kidney bean (RKB) to substitute for rice flour. Using the experimental method, first-price auction, with adult consumers as participants, truncated regression was applied to identify the WTP bids for three types of gluten-free ramen noodles. The findings reveal that the WTP bids for rice kernel- and 30% RKB flour-based ramen noodles are not significantly different, whereas consumers would pay 12.56 baht/150 g less for the 40% RKB flour item compared to the rice kernel item. The results also suggest that participants in the experiments would pay 15.452 baht/150 g less for the 40% RKB flour item compared to the 30% RKB flour item. These results underscore the 30% RKB flour is the optimal formulation for producing gluten-free ramen noodles to substitute for rice flour. This study also highlights the distinct preferences across individual characteristics and nutritional concerns, which underscores the potential for developing ramen noodles to satisfy consumer preferences beyond celiac concerns - providing food nutrition and improving well-being of consumes through dietary choices.