Ethical Traceability for Improved Transparency in the Food Chain

Abstract

Some practices in the agri-food sector worry consumers. Consumers might for instance be concerned about animal welfare, health, environmental issues, transparency of the food chain and so forth.

A question, which confronts consumers today, is how they can become capable of acting upon such ethical concerns. Information is often seen as an answer to the mentioned consumer concerns. Paradoxically, although consumers are bombarded with information on food – from the media, the food industry, food authorities, NGOs and interest groups – details about how foods are actually produced is often hard to find. Much of the information available is superficial, conflicting or partial, and it is hard for consumers seeking to make informed food choices on ethical matters to know which information to trust. Food traceability, which provides a record of the history and journey of a given food, and which is increasingly used in the food sector for legal and commercial reasons, has the potential to communicate a more authentic picture of how food is produced and thus provide an answer to some consumer concerns.