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This paper aims to address the important issue of world food pricing from a new perspective of demand, supply production and preferences.

This paper reviews the models of demand and supply and introduces the author's own modeling idea in this field of global food pricing and production.

There is no such thing as permanent food scarcity, and that food scarcity is as much an ethical problem as is artificially generated scarcity of the good things of life, the basic needs of life, on which life has a fair share. The paper goes on to explain a relational model of learning to understand complementarities between the basic needs, amongst which essentially is food as a globally provisioned social good. Also endemic in this transformation are the preferences that conscious consumers ought to have, the production that appropriate technology should bring about, and the supply as an elastic function of price in a basic‐needs regime of food production and pricing.

Further statistical data needed for estimation.

The paper explains such a relational model of ethically‐induced perspectives on food demand, supply, production and pricing. The paper then investigates how the same issues can be examined in the conventional large‐scale econometric models against the data that are available. The paper suggests revisions in such econometric models in the light of the ethically‐induced relational model for understanding the issues underlying food demand, production, supply and pricing.

Several philosophical questions in regard to the appropriateness of the conventional models that fall short of addressing such essential issues, and thus also fail to predict behavior and forecast future, are examined. Some policy, program and strategic implications of the study are pointed out in the analytical conclusion.

The paper goes on to explain a relational model of learning to understand complementarities between the basic needs, amongst which essentially is food as a globally provisioned social good. Also endemic in this transformation are the preferences that conscious consumers ought to have, the production that appropriate technology should bring about, and the supply as an elastic function of price in a basic‐needs regime of food production and pricing. The paper explains such a relational model of ethically‐induced perspectives on food demand, supply, production and pricing. The paper then investigates how the same issues can be examined in the conventional large‐scale econometric models against the data that are available.

Public concerns with issues including animal welfare and environmental management and stewardship have required organisations within the food supply chain to formally demonstrate their commitment to ethical issues. This has led to the development of corporate social responsibility strategies and the use of ethical risk assessment models. The purpose of the study is to review both qualitative and quantitative methods of assessment.

This paper begins with a discussion on ethical issues. This is followed by an evaluation of current mechanisms for determining both scientific‐ and value‐based approaches to ethical food policy.

Legislation defines governmental policy but it does not define what is “good” or “right” and this is the role of ethics. In order to have ethic reasoning embedded in food policy either at governmental or at organisational level, policy makers must be able to understand and evaluate moral arguments, be fair‐minded and make well‐reasoned decisions. Consumers need to trust that both policy makers and those manufacturing and supplying food make decisions and provide information which is accessible, accurate and affords reasoned choice when purchasing food products.

This paper provides a review of ethical methodology and mechanisms for assisting in ethical decision making and will be of interest to academics and to industry.

A robust literature has developed that demonstrates that ethical consumption, particularly “buycotts,” is on the rise. However, not much is known about (1) consumer convergence: do consumers who purchase one “ethical” product also purchase others, and (2) the degree to which ethical consumers make their purchasing decisions for collective reasons. We attempt to fill this lacuna in the literature. This study uses results from a mail survey of a random sample of 500 Colorado residents to examine the degree of convergence between consumers of organic, fair trade, locally grown, animal friendly, made in the United States, and union made products with tetrachoric correlations coefficients and binary logistic regression models. We also investigate the degree of convergence between consumers who report holding collective motivations for purchasing ethical products through these same methods. Our findings indicate strong support for convergence between ethical consumers and consumers who believe they are acting collectively. The results suggest that many ethical consumers believe they are part of an “imagined community” of citizen–consumers who through their joint purchasing decisions are critiquing and hopefully changing traditional production–consumption commodity networks.

The issue of cloned food labeling came to the forefront on January 15, 2008, with the release of a controversial report by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This paper aims to explore issues surrounding cloned food sources, specifically the increasingly vocal demands by the American public for mandatory labeling.

This paper reviews literature to examine the culture and structure of the FDA over the past ten years. Ethical, economic and public health concerns surrounding cloned food sources are also examined. Comparisons are made to the shared history of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Political process and implementation of the Cloned Food Labeling Act (S. 414) are explored.

The FDA faces legal and cultural pressure to speed medications to market. The processes created by this struggle also affect the regulation of agriculture; this can be seen in the similar histories of GMOs and cloned food. Ethical issues surrounding cloned food labeling include animal welfare and the usurpation of the creator's role. Other ethical issues are entwined in health and economic concerns. Health issues include the capacity of the FDA to track allergic reactions and the possibility of future protein abnormalities among consumers. Environmental and herd health are identified as more global health concerns.

The combined economics of the biotech cloning and agricultural industries invert the usual law of supply and demand. This economic dynamic may either hurt small farmers or potentially benefit those who eschew cloning due to ethical or financial constraints. The current political climate exerts an interesting dynamic on the cloned food labeling debate. Consumer issues are pushed aside in the excitement of a new administration and more pressing issues such as the recessed economy. Biotech industries have the ability to maintain focus in the midst of distracting national issues; however, legislative opponents may have newfound strength with a majority congress.

Functioning as an historical overview and theoretical framework for those studying cloned food safety and labeling issues, this paper is useful in engendering ethical discussions. It also highlights the need for statistical and public health research on cloned food safety.

This paper is derived from a larger scale project investigating consumer attitudes towards organic food in the UK. Presents focus group results on consumer perceptions, attitudes and behaviour in relation to two key interrelated food trends: organic food and animal welfare. The results indicate that consumers often confuse organic and free‐range products because they believe that “organic” is equivalent to “free‐range” food. Focus group discussions were conducted to identify the main beliefs and attitudes towards organic food of both organic and non‐organic food buyers. Results indicate that, although health and food safety concerns are the main motives for organic food purchases, ethical concerns, specifically in relation to standards of animal welfare, play a significant influencing role in the decision to purchase organic food. The results are consistent with parallel research into consumer concerns about animal welfare, which showed that consumers are primarily concerned about food safety issues. Furthermore, the research illustrates the central outcome that animal welfare is used by consumers as an indicator of other, more important product attributes, such as safety and the impact on health. Indeed, ethical considerations seem to motivate the purchase of organic food and free‐range products and, therefore, may be viewed as interrelated. However, such ethical frameworks are closely related, if not contingent upon, the quality of the product, which includes perceptions of higher standards of safety and healthiness. Based on the qualitative data, suggests that the organic market could take advantage of research on consumer motivation to buy free‐range products, by embodying ethical concerns as an indicator of product quality.

The purpose of this paper is to argue for the incorporation of ethics into the coursework of culinary schools, utilizing the value chain analysis as a theoretical framework to explore and confront food ethics concerns.

Based on a review of the pertinent literature, this conceptual paper offers a theoretical framework whereby ethical issues relevant to the food industry can be tackled and then incorporated into the training of culinary professionals.

To illustrate the usefulness of the suggested framework, the paper provides a systematic analysis of ethical concerns related to the production, distribution and consumption of food.

Food ethics education is likely to have a positive impact on the credibility of the culinary arts' profession, at a time when there is a shift toward sustainability and ethical awareness; it is also likely to impact favorably on the opportunity of recruiting culinary professionals as agents of change regarding pressing moral challenges.

Including ethics in the curricula of culinary schools has various positive social implications, including the development of future professionals with acknowledged ethical responsibilities toward society.

Despite the upsurge of ethical concerns and the controversies associated with the food industry, hitherto culinary schools have paid little attention to ethics within their curricula. In view of that, the article introduced a value‐chain perspective for integrating food ethics into culinary arts curricula.

The paper aims to investigate pro-social behaviour of Italian consumers during the decision-making process of buying food produced in lands confiscated from Mafia-type organisations. This is assumed as a form of buycotting, thus as an ethical purchasing choice to contribute to social change.

Data from 339 interviews were elaborated with a cluster analysis. The difference between groups was confirmed using MANOVA, whereas the multivariate multiple regression analysis was carried out to assess the difference between clusters.

Three types of consumer groups are identified: absolutists, exceptionists and subjectivists. Coherent with previous studies, findings also highlight the relevance of information acquisition and of the self-effectiveness perception as key factors to stimulate pro-social behaviours.

With a social marketing perspective, the paper offers useful suggestions to promote political consumerism as a critical choice to contribute to fight against Mafia-type organisations and to spread a culture of lawfulness.

The issue of the genetic manipulation of plants, animals and microbes is addressed within the context of food production. Genetic manipulation is defined within the wider area of biotechnology and some of the main benefits of its use are summarised; safety and risk are examined and some of the socioeconomic problems it can create are discussed. It is concluded that the technique can offer great potential benefits in terms of increased quantity and improved quality of food, but it raises social/ethical concerns which can be summed up by asking: Is it safe? Is it fair? Is it natural?

Moral aspects of food are gaining increased attention from scholars due to growing complexity of the food system. The foodservice system is a complex arrangement of stakeholders, yet has not benefited from similar scholarly attention on the moral facets. This gap is of significance given that the foodservice system has increased in importance with the larger proportion of food consumed in foodservice environments. This paper aims to focus on the foodservice system with the goal of applying moral perspectives associated with the theoretical discussion on the principles of food ethics.

Food ethics is described within the theoretical framework of three principles, namely, autonomy, justice and well-being. These ethical principles are reviewed in context of the foodservice system comprised of food distribution (supply chains), preparation (foodservice establishments) and consumption (consumer demand). The review also includes international perspectives on foodservice system ethics to assess relativism (versus universalism) of moral issues.

As the foodservice system increases in complexity, greater discussion is needed on the ethics of this system. This study observes that ignoring ethical principles can negatively impact the ability of consumers, businesses and communities to make informed choices, and on their well-being. Alternatively, a focus on understanding the role of food ethics can provide an anchor for research, practice and policy development to strengthen the foodservice system. While these moral principles are universal truths, they will require relative introspection globally, based on local experiences.

This paper presents a moral principle-based description of food ethics that incorporates the various components of the expanding foodservice system.