Lynn J. Frewer and Swaroop V. Kher

Food Safety and Consumer Behaviour, Marketing and Consumer Behaviour Group, University of Wageningen, Hollandseweg 1, 6706 KN Wageningen, Netherlands

Abstract

The European Union has enforced mandatory traceability for food business operators for effective monitoring and management of risks associated with food and feed chains. The implementation of such a system needs to take account of stakeholder priorities and expectations. Expert stakeholders (such as food risk managers) and lay public may have different opinions about, and expectations from, food and ingredient traceability. The present article provides an overview of expert and lay perspectives on traceability implementation in the European context. The results of the stakeholder study indicate that both expert and lay stakeholders consider food and ingredient traceability as potentially improving food safety. Experts mainly underline the need for refinement in present traceability legislation, consumer require more information about the potential advantages of the system.

Key words: traceability, food chains, stakeholders

There has been an increase in food safety incidents in various parts of the world in recent decades. The failure of regulatory bodies to consider public concerns about food safety issues has resulted in the decline in consumer confidence both in food safety and in the motives of food safety regulators. The increasing complexity and length of the food chain, together with the involvement of many different food chain actors, the extensive processing of food products, the implementation of new technologies used in food production (e.g. genetic modification, use of nano-materials), and the susceptibility of different food chains to potential contamination from chemical and microbiological agents have increased consumer food risk perceptions. Despite the application of increasingly stringent national and international measures designed to promote food security, and the availability of sophisticated technology to identify and monitor established and emerging food risks, consumer concern about food safety remains. In part, this is due to the failure of food chain actors to take due account of consumer concerns, and the underlying nature of consumer risk perceptions. In addition, communication about proactive risk management strategies has not been effective.

Changes in consumer protection legislation have been enacted in order to increase food safety as well as develop and sustain consumer confidence. An example is provided by increased requirements regarding traceability, applied to track food and ingredients throughout food chains, in order to expedite risk prevention and mitigation. The European Union has been a forerunner in enforcing mandatory traceability laws. Under the framework of the General Food Law (GFL), Regulation (EC) No. 178/2002 has set new standards to ensure stricter implementation of traceability in food and feed chains by enforcing mandatory traceability of food and food ingredients as of 1^st January 2005. The regulatory requirements require all food and feed business operators to be able to identify the source of all foods and ingredients, and to provide the basis for further monitoring throughout supply chains. All food and feed business operators are therefore required to know from whom they obtain ingredients and products (one step back), and to register to whom they sell their ingredients or products (one step forward). It is assumed that improved traceability will increase transparency throughout the food chain, and contribute to the development and maintenance of consumer trust in food and food chain actors.

However, for systems such as food and ingredient traceability to be effective, it is important to understand the risk management and mitigation priorities of various stakeholders including food safety experts (such as risk managers) and ‘lay’ consumers, and to consider their views regarding the efficacy of traceability in managing food risks. Whilst consumer concerns for food safety represent useful indicators of policy demands, insights from food safety experts experienced in implementation and management aspects of food traceability systems are also important if the efficacy of existing traceability systems are to be understood, and any refinements identified to improve the effectiveness. Of direct interest to food chain actors is information about consumer responses to traceability, for example as a tool to facilitate recalls or promote consumer protection.

Here, an account of lay and expert perspectives on traceability implementation in Europe is presented. Consumer risk perceptions and awareness about food traceability were studied using focus groups conducted in five countries (Poland, Ireland, France, Brazil and the Netherlands). Experts’ perspectives on traceability implementation in Europe were investigated using a Delphi survey.

The results suggest that both food safety experts and lay consumers consider food chain traceability to be an important tool for improving food safety, as potential food chain contaminants can be identified quickly and efficiently. Although consumers were not aware of the mechanisms underpinning food and ingredient traceability, they appreciated its potential to improve food safety as well as promote consumer protection. An important finding was that consumers perceived the implementation of food traceability systems as signalling industry prioritisation of consumer protection over and above economic factors. Consumers considered traceability to enforce the accountability of food chain actors, to improve coordination, and invoke a sense of shared responsibility among food chain actors throughout specific food chains.

Food safety experts considered there to be both benefits and disadvantages associated with traceability systems. Timely product recalls resulting from identification of potential sources of vulnerability, hazard elimination and increased liability of food chain actors were recognised as the major advantages of traceability. They suggested that the increased financial burden associated with the implementation of traceability may place a burden on producers, although this depends upon the level of implementation and accuracy of the system employed. While experts considered the advantages to outweigh the disadvantages, there was also concern about the lack of uniformity across the traceability systems implemented by various food business operators. This was due to the unavailability of information about specific measures in the traceability regulations regarding the level to which food traceability should be implemented; this could result in gaps in coordination between various chain actors involved in a specific food chain, thus affecting the information flow.

Food safety experts suggested that mandatory traceability legislation (as in the EU) is likely to fail due to variations in the traceability systems implemented across different industries. The success of such approaches would need harmonisation in terms of standard setting across the food sector if the potential advantages of traceability are to be realised, in particular with respect to the development of societal confidence in food safety systems. Experts also underlined the need for stricter regulations to increase the accountability of various food chain actors to assure food safety.

Food safety experts believed that consumers do not have complete understanding of the concept of food traceability, nor were consumers interested in further information. This view contrasts with the opinion of consumers who indicated interest in traceability information about foods and ingredients, in particular if these resulted in additional information relevant to consumer interests (such as product origin and sustainability factors such as ‘food miles’). Experts also tended to assess the impact of product recalls on consumer confidence to be negative, while consumers considered it as a positive indication of efficient functioning of food safety monitoring systems. Product recalls, in fact, for consumers reflect that their concerns for food safety are being acknowledged. This suggests that recalls may be a useful tool in regaining consumer confidence in food safety systems.

In conclusion, food and ingredient traceability has the potential to improve food safety and consumer protection. It is important to develop effective communication strategies to inform consumers regarding the advantages such systems can provide in addressing their concerns if consumer trust in the food safety monitoring systems is to be developed and maintained. This needs to be recognised and communicated by all food chain actors. There is also a need for uniformity in standard setting which extends across all food chains.

Acknowledgements

The results presented here are a part the European Union funded Sigma Chain project (contract no. FP6 – 518451) aimed at developing a stakeholders’ guide for identifying vulnerabilities in food and feed chains to dangerous agents and substances.

Further reading

Kher, S. V., De Jonge, J., Wentholt, M., Deliza, R., Cunha de Andrade, J.. Cnossen, H. J., Lucas Luijckx, N. B. and Frewer, L. J. (submitted). Consumer perceptions of risks of chemical and microbiological contaminants associated with food chains: a cross-national study.

Kher, S. V., Frewer, L. J., De Jonge, J., Wentholt, M., Howell Davies, O., Lucas Luijckx, N. B. and Cnossen, H. J. (accepted) Experts’ perspectives on the implementation of traceability in Europe.