Consumer Evaluations of Food Risk Management Quality in Europe

Abstract

In developing and implementing appropriate food risk management strategies, it is important to understand how consumers evaluate the quality of food risk management practices. The aim of this study is to model the underlying psychological factors influencing consumer evaluations of food risk management quality using structural equation modeling techniques (SEM), and to examine the extent to which the influence of these factors is country-specific (comparing respondents from Denmark, Germany, Greece, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom). A survey was developed to model the factors that drive consumer evaluations of food risk management practices and their relative importance (n= 2,533 total respondents). The measurement scales included in the structural model were configurally and metrically invariant across countries. Results show that some factors appear to drive perceptions of effective food risk management in all the countries studied, such as proactive consumer protection, which was positively related to consumers' evaluation of food risk management quality, while opaque and reactive risk management was negatively related to perceived food risk management quality. Other factors appeared to apply only in certain countries. For example, skepticism in risk assessment and communication practices was negatively related to food risk management quality, particularly so in the UK. Expertise of food risk managers appeared to be a key factor in consumers' evaluation of food risk management quality in some countries. However, trust in the honesty of food risk managers did not have a significant effect on food risk management quality. From the results, policy implications for food risk management are discussed and important directions for future research are identified.

Challenges and practices in Halal meat preparation: a case study investigation of a UK slaughterhouse

“…Consequently, Muslims are making their presence known both politically and socially, for example, through demanding better food labelling and traceability of food products (Kleef et al, 2007). Halal food represents 17% of the global food industry and is worth $632 billion annually, with the UK having one of the highest demands for Halal products (Kleef et al, 2007). The rapid growth of Islam is subsequently increasing the demand for ritually slaughtered, 'Halal' meat (Bonne & Verbeke, 2007a, 2007b.…”

“…The Muslim population is expected to increase by 35% around the turn of the century compared to a general population growth rate of 1.6% (Kleef et al, 2007). Consequently, Muslims are making their presence known both politically and socially, for example, through demanding better food labelling and traceability of food products (Kleef et al, 2007). Halal food represents 17% of the global food industry and is worth $632 billion annually, with the UK having one of the highest demands for Halal products (Kleef et al, 2007).…”

“…The Muslim population is expected to increase by 35% around the turn of the century compared to a general population growth rate of 1.6% (Kleef et al, 2007). Consequently, Muslims are making their presence known both politically and socially, for example, through demanding better food labelling and traceability of food products (Kleef et al, 2007).…”

The views of key stakeholders on an evolving food risk governance framework: Results from a Delphi study

“…Other approaches to increasing societal trust in risk analysis practices have stressed the need to develop effective risk communication strategies with consumers that explicitly address their information needs (Houghton et al, 2006;Millstone and Van Zwanenberg, 2000;Van Kleef et al, 2007), or propose greater stakeholder involvement (including of consumers) in the overall process or specific stages of food risk analysis (Dreyer et al, 2006;De Marchi and Ravetz, 1999). Greater inclusivity may reflect institutional changes developed to increase the transparency and openness of regulatory practices (Byrne, 2002;Dreyer et al, 2006).…”

Transparency systems: do businesses in North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany) regret the cancellation of the Smiley scheme?

“…Many questions have been tackled in the realm of transparency schemes (e.g. how consumers evaluate the quality of food management practices, van Kleef et al 2007), but the question of how businesses involved think or feel when a transparency scheme is cancelled has not yet been analyzed in detail. Some business owners may miss the transparency scheme, while others may not even care about it.…”