Introduction

Abstract

Consumer distrust in food has emerged as a pressing issue on the political agenda over the last decade or so. Many have tried to understand this, employing a variety of approaches and explanations, most of them concentrating on what is happening to consumers. But if you look at pan-European public opinion-poll data, there are systematic variations in levels of trust which cannot be attributed either to universal distrust among consumers, or to their inability to understand or evaluate risk. We have to look elsewhere than individualistic explanations. There is obviously something distinctive about each country; but it cannot be some sort of national character, since levels of trust also vary significantly over time. So it has to be something in the way each country or region has dealt with food issues and crises, and the way their governments, markets in food, and so on are organized. This is our main interest in this book. What is it in our modes of food consumption and their social and institutional environment that sustains trust in food in contemporary Europe? What is it that nurtures scepticism and distrust among food consumers and provokes intermittent crises? To answer these questions, the book will present a study of opinions, organizational structures and strategies in six European countries, based on an extensive research project conducted between 2002 and 2004.