Social and Institutional Conditions for Consumer Trust in Food in Europe Consumer Trust in Food 2002 - 2004 Contract No QLK1-CT-2001-00291 3

Despite European harmonisation of regulations and market integration there is large variation between countries when it comes to trust in food and food institutions. Together with Norwegians and Danes, British consumers have high confidence in the food they bring home. Few Italian and Portuguese con- sumers have a high degree of confidence and many are distrustful. Germans occupy a middle position. Trust varies To what degree are you confident that the foods bought for your household are not harmful? Consumers receive a lot of attention in today’s food policy debates. But the understanding what a “consumer” is differs between countries. While British consumers fit best into the notion of active and conscious individual shop- pers, Nordic consumers, and Norwegians in particular, rely much more on public protection. Consumers in the south are less active, but they do not trust public protection either, ending with a privatised consumer role, relying more on personal networks. The German consumer role comes out as most controversial, shifting between all of these positions. The role of consumers seems to be changing. This is particularly evident at the EU level, but also in several countries. From being seen as private family members to be protected or as rational, individual shoppers, we see the emergence of a citizen consumer role with agency and concerns for personal as well as wider political and welfare issues. A changing role of consumers Small degree Norway GB Denmark Germany Italy Portugal Some degree Large degree

Clear division of responsibilities between the state, various market actors and individual consumers seems to promote trust. Countries with low levels of trust show significant controversy between actors and fragmented responsibilities, while high consumer trust levels is reflected even in consensus and clarity when it comes to the division of responsibilities. This is particularly evi- dent for public regulatory authorities. Division of responsibilities Consumers faced with these different configurations of actors trust some actors more than others. Consumer organisations and food experts are most trusted to tell the truth in case of a scandal, followed by food authorities and the media. Market actors - farmers, the processing indu- stry and the supermarkets - are significantly less trusted. Yet it is the market actors, along with the food authorities, that matter most for trust in food because they have the most power and control. In high-trust countries at least one or two powerful actors are trusted to tell the truth in case of a food scandal. Low-trust countries have no actors with significant power in whom the population have confidence. Trust and power AUTHORITIES Local, National, Supranational CIVIL SOCIETY Experts, NGOs, Media SYSTEM OF FOOD PROVISIONING Farmers, Processors, Retailers CONSUMERS Shoppers, Eaters, Citizens An illustration of structures, actors and relations CONSUMER TRUST AND DISTRUST

High-trust countries have super- market based distribution sys- tems. Supermarket based distri- bution systems provide specific conditions for purchasing, with impersonal relations and empha- sis on standardisation, routiniza- tion and pre-packaged, processed foods. This is very different from shopping from butchers, small shops and food markets which sell mostly fresh, unprocessed foods and where the exchange is relying more on personal rela- tions. In general, countries where supermarkets predominate show higher levels of trust in food safe- ty (UK, Denmark, Norway) whereas countries where other forms of food distribution are also significant show considerably lower levels of trust. Trust may be associated with higher pre- dictability, but it may also be due to lower expectations and less knowledge among supermarket shoppers. Trust and different distribution systems Trust is a moving target: from safety to nutrition? When it comes to food safety public and private insti- tutional reforms seem to have had positive effects in several countries. However, this does not mean that all trust problems are resolved. Consumer trust is not only referring to food safety but to a range of different food issues, like quality, nutrition, ethics and value for money. These different issues are handled differently and trust accordingly. For despite its widespread cov- erage in the mass media, food safety is not the issue that causes most worry. Other food issues emerging on the public agenda, for example nutrition, are asso- ciated with considerable uncertainty and controversy, and are characterised by unclear and fragmented responsibilities that may cause new waves of con- sumer distrust in food across Europe.

Consumer Trust in Food. A European Study of the Social and Institutional Conditions for the Production of Trust (2002 - 2004) The overall aim of the study is to investigate the social and institutional conditions for the production and main- tenance of consumer trust in food. The study seeks to identify and analyse fac- tors that shape trust in the food supply and in information sources. These fac- tors include the roles of public authori- ties, consumer organisations, market actors, consumers, NGOs, and the mass media. The analysis will integrate data from (1) a representative survey about how consumers handle challenges of trust and distrust in the routines of everyday life, and (2) qualitative enquiries (doc- umentary analyses, key informant interviews) at various institutional lev- els (regional, national, EU) about the conditions for trust. A special focus on beef and tomatoes will more fully illu- minate the relations between consumer trust and collective actors and institu- tions in the food system. The project will provide a critical analy- sis of alternative strategies for handling trust and distrust under varying condi- tions throughout Europe. The project expects to achieve a policy relevant appreciation of the role of citi- zens and consumer organisations in articulating the interests of consumers within the context of European food markets and food policy systems. The concept of trust Surveys in six countries Comparative analyses Institutional studies - countries, EU Strategies for trust Dissemination to stakeholders and the general public The structure of the study

Unni Kjaernes (Coordinator) The National Institute for Consumer Research (SIFO) PO Box 4682, Nydalen N - 0405 Oslo - Norway Email: unni.kjarnes@sifo.no Roberta Sassatelli Dipartimento di Discipline della Comunicazione Università di Bologna - Via Azzo Gardino, 23 I - 40122 Bologna - Italy Email: r.sassatelli@uea.ac.uk Lotte Holm Royal Veterinary- and Agricultural University (KVL) Research Department of Human Nutrition (FHE) Rolighedsvej 30 DK - 1958 Frederiksberg C-Denmark Email: lotte.holm@fhe.kvl.dk Bente Halkier Roskilde University Centre Dept. of Communication, Journalism and Computer Science P.O. Box 260 DK - 4000 Roskilde Email: bha@ruc.dk Alan Warde, Mark Harvey ESRC Centre for Research on Innovation and Competition CRIC, University of Manchester/UMIST Harold Hankins Building - Booth Street West Precinct Centre UK - Manchester M13 9QH Email: Alan.Warde@man.ac.uk; Mark.Harvey@man.ac.uk Pedro Graça The University of Porto Faculty of Nutrition (FCNAUP) Rua Dr. Roberto Frias P - 4200-465 Porto - Portugal Email: pedrograca@fcna.up.pt Corinna Willhöft Federal Research Centre for Nutrition and Food (BFEL) Institute of Nutritional Economics and Sociology Haid-und-Neu-Strasse 9 D - 76131 Karlsruhe - Germany Email: corinna.willhoeft@bfe.uni-karlsruhe.de Responsible partners Further information Find the country reports in the section Working Papers on www.trustinfood.org Laura Terragni, 2004: Institutional strategies for the production of trust in food in Norway, Working Paper Maria Paola Ferretti, Paolo Magaudda, 2004: Italy: Between Local Traditions and Global Aspirations, Working Paper Annemette Nielsen, Terkel Møhl, 2004: A Decade of Change in the Danish Food System, Working Paper Corinne Wales, 2004: Country report: United Kingdom, Working Paper      Mafalda Domingues, Pedro Graça, M. Daniel Vaz de Almeida, 2004: Portuguese Consumers Trust in Food: un institutional approach, Working Paper Thorsten Lenz, 2004: Consumer first? Shifting respon- sibilities in the German food system in the light of European integration and the BSE crises, Working Paper Florence Bergeaud-Blackler, 2004: Institutional Report: European Union, Working Paper About the Consumer Survey: Christian Poppe and Unni Kjærnes, 2004: TRUST IN FOOD IN EUROPE - A Comparative Analysis, Working Paper Further publications are planned. Please check the web- site for details. You are invited to visit the study’s website http://www.trustinfood.org and/or contact the Coordinator or other Partners directly. Rosanna D'Amario · Scientific Officer European Commission, DG Research; Directorate E - Biotechnology, Agriculture and Food; Unit E.2 - Food Quality Official address: European Commission, B-1049 Brussels Tel: (+32-2)-2 98 43 74 (direct line), (+32-2)-2 96 85 11 (exchange) Fax:(+32-2)-2 96 43 22 Email: rosanna.d'amario@cec.eu.int Internet: http://europa.eu.int/comm/dgs/rese- arch/index_en.html This research project is supported by the European Commission , Quality of Life and Management of Living Resources Programme (QoL), Key Action 1 (KA1) on Food, Nutrition and Health.