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Food-system actors’ perspectives on trust: an international comparison

Emma Tonkin (Discipline of Public Health, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia)
Annabelle M. Wilson (Discipline of Public Health, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia)
John Coveney (College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia)
Julie Henderson (Southgate Institute for Health, Society and Equity, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia)
Samantha B. Meyer (School of Public Health and Health Systems, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada)
Mary Brigid McCarthy (Food Business and Development, Cork University Business School, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland)
Seamus O’Reilly (Food Business and Development, Cork University Business School, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland)
Michael Calnan (School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research, University of Kent, Kent, UK)
Aileen McGloin (Safefood, Cork, Ireland)
Edel Kelly (Food Business and Development, Cork University Business School, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland)
Paul Ward (Discipline of Public Health, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia)

British Food Journal

ISSN: 0007-070X

Publication date: 4 February 2019

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to compare the perspectives of actors who contribute to trust in the food system in four high income countries which have diverse food incident histories: Australia, New Zealand (NZ), the United Kingdom (UK) and the Island of Ireland (IOI), focussing on their communication with the public, and their approach to food system interrelationships.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected in two separate studies: the first in Australia, NZ and the UK (Study 1); and the second on the IOI (Study 2). In-depth interviews were conducted with media, food industry and food regulatory actors across the four regions (n=105, Study 1; n=50, Study 2). Analysis focussed on identifying similarities and differences in the perspectives of actors from the four regions regarding the key themes of communication with the public, and relationships between media, industry and regulators.

Findings

While there were many similarities in the way food system actors from the four regions discussed (re)building trust in the context of a food incident, their perceptions differed in a number of critical ways regarding food system actor use of social media, and the attitudes and approaches towards relationships between food system actors.

Originality/value

This paper outlines opportunities for the regions studied to learn from each other when looking for practical strategies to maximise consumer trust in the food system, particularly relating to the use of social media and attitudes towards role definition in industry–regulator relationships.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Declaration of interest: Aileen McGloin is employed by Safefood (organisation contributing funding to this research). The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Study 1 was funded by the Australian Research Council (LP120100405), Food Standards Australia New Zealand and SA Health. Study 2 and the comparison between Studies 1 and 2 was funded by Safefood. The authors would like to acknowledge Dr Trevor Webb, Professor Martin Caraher, Dean McCullum, Sian Calnan and Dr Sue Lloyd who contributed to project design and/or data collection for Study 1, Adrienne Dockrel who contributed to data collection for Study 2 and Professor Andrew Fearne who contributed to discussions about the comparison of Studies 1 and 2.

Citation

Tonkin, E., Wilson, A.M., Coveney, J., Henderson, J., Meyer, S.B., McCarthy, M.B., O’Reilly, S., Calnan, M., McGloin, A., Kelly, E. and Ward, P. (2019), "Food-system actors’ perspectives on trust: an international comparison", British Food Journal, Vol. 121 No. 2, pp. 561-573. https://doi.org/10.1108/BFJ-05-2018-0291

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited

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