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Consumer Trust in Food and the Food System: A Critical Review

Increased focus towards food safety and quality is reshaping food purchasing decisions around the world. Although some food attributes are visible, many of the attributes that consumers seek and are willing to pay a price premium for are not. Consequently, consumers rely on trusted cues and informat...

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Autores principales: Wu, Wen, Zhang, Airong, van Klinken, Rieks Dekker, Schrobback, Peggy, Muller, Jane Marie
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8536093/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34681539
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/foods10102490
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author Wu, Wen
Zhang, Airong
van Klinken, Rieks Dekker
Schrobback, Peggy
Muller, Jane Marie
author_facet Wu, Wen
Zhang, Airong
van Klinken, Rieks Dekker
Schrobback, Peggy
Muller, Jane Marie
author_sort Wu, Wen
collection PubMed
description Increased focus towards food safety and quality is reshaping food purchasing decisions around the world. Although some food attributes are visible, many of the attributes that consumers seek and are willing to pay a price premium for are not. Consequently, consumers rely on trusted cues and information to help them verify the food quality and credence attributes they seek. In this study, we synthesise the findings from previous research to generate a framework illustrating the key trust influencing factors that are beyond visual and brand-related cues. Our framework identifies that consumer trust in food and the food system is established through the assurances related to individual food products and the actors of the food system. Specifically, product assurance builds consumer trust through food packaging labels communicating food attribute claims, certifications, country or region of origin, and food traceability information. In addition, producers, processors, and retailers provide consumers with food safety and quality assurances, while government agencies, third-party institutions, advocacy groups, and the mass media may modify how labelling information and food operators are perceived by consumers. We hope our framework will guide future research efforts to test these trust factors in various consumer and market settings.
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spelling pubmed-85360932021-10-23 Consumer Trust in Food and the Food System: A Critical Review Wu, Wen Zhang, Airong van Klinken, Rieks Dekker Schrobback, Peggy Muller, Jane Marie Foods Review Increased focus towards food safety and quality is reshaping food purchasing decisions around the world. Although some food attributes are visible, many of the attributes that consumers seek and are willing to pay a price premium for are not. Consequently, consumers rely on trusted cues and information to help them verify the food quality and credence attributes they seek. In this study, we synthesise the findings from previous research to generate a framework illustrating the key trust influencing factors that are beyond visual and brand-related cues. Our framework identifies that consumer trust in food and the food system is established through the assurances related to individual food products and the actors of the food system. Specifically, product assurance builds consumer trust through food packaging labels communicating food attribute claims, certifications, country or region of origin, and food traceability information. In addition, producers, processors, and retailers provide consumers with food safety and quality assurances, while government agencies, third-party institutions, advocacy groups, and the mass media may modify how labelling information and food operators are perceived by consumers. We hope our framework will guide future research efforts to test these trust factors in various consumer and market settings. MDPI 2021-10-18 /pmc/articles/PMC8536093/ /pubmed/34681539 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/foods10102490 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Wu, Wen
Zhang, Airong
van Klinken, Rieks Dekker
Schrobback, Peggy
Muller, Jane Marie
Consumer Trust in Food and the Food System: A Critical Review
title Consumer Trust in Food and the Food System: A Critical Review
title_full Consumer Trust in Food and the Food System: A Critical Review
title_fullStr Consumer Trust in Food and the Food System: A Critical Review
title_full_unstemmed Consumer Trust in Food and the Food System: A Critical Review
title_short Consumer Trust in Food and the Food System: A Critical Review
title_sort consumer trust in food and the food system: a critical review
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8536093/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34681539
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/foods10102490
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