Consumer awareness, food industry and regulatory agencies (NTC III)
NTC Leader: Clare Hall, Scottish Agricultural College, UK
The following major activities are included in dissemination of results to
enhance consumer awareness:
NTC III.1 - Enhancing consumer awareness and establishing consumer
preferences
This part of the NTC III work addresses the need to effectively communicate
the findings of PathogenCombat to European citizens. To do this, a
two-stage research process will be employed. Firstly, an exploratory phase
of research (literature reviews, consultations with consumer
organisations and focus group interviews) will be
undertaken. The findings from these activities will be used to develop
research questions and inform the design of the subsequent questionnaire
surveys which will generate empirical data relating consumer behaviour in
the context of food safety. Both the focus groups and the questionnaire
surveys will be executed in four regions of the EU (North, South, West and
Central/Eastern Europe), reflecting specific geographical variations in
food-related consumer behaviour which have been observed previously. Both
stages of the primary data collection will accommodate any significant
geographic variations in consumers’ attitudes, perception and behaviour.
The data collected will also provide essential information relating to
methods for effective knowledge dissemination to consumers and
market-related information to support the food industry application of the
RTD findings.
NTC III.1.1 and III.1.2 Evaluate consumers’ understanding of key food
safety issues and identify efficacious methods for communicating
information to consumers
Together with discussions with the participating consumer organisations
(see below for details) a literature review will be undertaken to evaluate
where there are gaps in our knowledge regarding consumers’ understanding of
food safety issues; focus group interviews will then be undertaken to
elicit high-quality and high-validity data from individuals in the four
study areas. These steps will inform the selection of research questions
for the empirical survey work using respondent-completed questionnaires.
These activities will also provide information relating to effective
methods for dissemination of relevant PathogenCombat findings to consumers.
NTC III.1.3 Examine the role of food safety in consumer behaviour
This task will involve a rigorous review of the relevant literature to
assess the state of the art in consumer behaviour studies which are
relevant to PathogenCombat. Primary data collection will be undertaken
during the focus groups and using the questionnaire survey as described
above. This work will assist in the provision of an empirically-based
contribution to theories of consumer behaviour which are specific to the
challenges outlined in PathogenCombat.
NTC III.1.4 Investigate consumer behaviour in the context of functional
foods
This task will follow the same structure as 1.1 and 1.2 above with the
primary data being collected during the same focus groups and using the
same questionnaires. This work aims to improve our knowledge relating to
consumers’ understanding of and preferences for probiotic food and provide
market-related data to guide SMEs’ product-development strategies.
NTC III.2 - Enhancing food industry and regulatory agency awareness
and communication
NTC III.2.1 Establish fora to address consumers, regulatory agencies,
and food industry issues and awareness of microbial food safety and
engender interaction within and between the food industry, regulatory
agencies, other organisations and the media
A key objective of the PathogenCombat IP is to raise awareness of food
safety issues – not only amongst consumers but also within the food
industry, regulatory agencies and throughout the entire food chain. The
findings from the consumer research undertaken in NTC III.1.1 will
contribute significantly to the objectives which will be set for these
scientific/food industry/regulatory agencies fora. The fora will be used
to:
· develop methods to
consult with and disseminate information to the public using seminars and
other organised events (e.g. public hearings), educational campaigns and
public relations exercises on relevant aspects of food safety;
· similarly, develop
methods to enable discussion between scientific experts, the food industry,
regulatory agencies and other relevant institutions; and
· facilitate trans-national
consumer dialogue both at European and at global levels.
NTC III.2.2 Coordinated programme of effective dissemination.
Building once again on the findings from above (NTC III.1.1), this
key task involves working closely with the fora established in NTC
III.2.1 and in close collaboration with European consumer
organisations. Discussions have taken place with representatives from: (i)
the European Consumers’ Organisation (BEUC); (ii) CONSEUR (another
pan-European consumer organisation consisting of Spain, Italy, Portugal and
Belgium’s consumer organisations[1]); and
(iii) the Slovene Consumer Association and towards the goal of these
organisations assisting in PathogenCombat’s dissemination activities. These
consumer organisations will assist in the dissemination of PathogenCombat
findings using, for example, their:
· technical reports;
· magazine publications;
· web sites;
and also through
· the existing press media;
and
· press conferences.
Other ways in which the consumer organisations can assist in strengthening
the impact of the IP’s findings include using their lobbying powers at
national, EU and international levels, contributing to capacity building
and enlarging the European knowledge base by organising workshops and
entering dialogue with other NGO organisations.
NTC III.2.3 Strengthen NTC Pillars I (SMEs) and II (Training)
The work described above will also be employed to enhance the effectiveness
of NTC Pillars I and II. For example, practical experience from the fora
established within NTC Pillar III will contribute to:
(i) the transition from research and development into food industry
application; and
(ii) strengthening the role of the regulatory agencies in NTC Pillar I
Additionally, relevant consumer issue-related findings from NTC Pillar III
will be integrated into the Training function (NTC II) as appropriate.
Knowledge transfer and exploitation will be enhanced by proactively
encouraging food industry (SMEs’) participation in Fora
discussions.
Consumer organisations’ details
The European Consumers' Organisation (BEUC - Bureau Européen des Unions
de consommateurs) is the Brussels-based federation of 38 independent
national consumer organisations from the EU, accession and EEA countries.
Their mission is to try to influence, in the consumer interest, the
development of EU policy and to promote and defend the interests of all
European consumers.
Conseur
One consequence of the single market is that European Union consumers are
being offered ever more products and services that are similar from one
country to the next. As a response to the organisation of the
production sector around the single market, consumer associations must also
work more closely together at an international level in order to avoid an
imbalance between consumers, producers and distributors. The Association
des Consommateurs Test-Achats (Belgium) has, therefore, fostered the
development of a European body known as CONSEUR in four countries: Belgium,
Spain, Italy and Portugal.
Its main aims are to promote independent consumer information and to defend
consumers’ interests. In addition to its own activities, Conseur
participates actively at European level in the activities of the BEUC
(European Consumers’ Organisation) and the ICRT (International Consumer
Research & Testing). At global level, Conseur participates in the
activities of CI (Consumers International). Currently active in four
countries, Conseur publishes over 20 different journals, employs more than
600 people and has more than 1 million subscribers to its main journal.
The individual members of Conseur are:
Previous food safety-related activities of Conseur include:
· Research into antibiotic
residues in beef, pork, veal, poultry and turkey (involving 15 EU Member
States - 1997).
· Testing hygiene and
organoleptic quality, checking for the possible presence of tranquilliser
and antibiotic residues in pork (the Conseur member organisations- 1998).
· Research into aflatoxin
residues in milk (the Conseur member organisations - 1998).
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Slovenian Consumers’ Association
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The Slovenian Consumers’ Association (SCA) [Zveza Potrosnikov Slovenije –
ZPS], founded in June 1990, is an independent, non-profit, internationally
acknowledged organization, dealing with consumer and consumer information
and lobbying on behalf of consumers. ZPS has been publishing an independent
consumer magazine VIP for eleven years. This publication aims to
impartially introduce consumers to the quality of goods and services in the
market and also to inform consumers about their consumer rights in all
areas including food- and food safety-related issues.
The NTC Pillar will include following tasks:
Task NTC III a.1.1 Evaluate
consumers’ understanding of key food safety issues.
Task NTC III a.1.2 Identify
efficacious methods for communicating information to consumers.
Task NTC III a.2
Examine role of food safety in consumer behaviour.
Task NTC III a.3
Investigate consumer behaviour in the context of functional foods.
Task NTC III b.1
Establish fora to address consumer issues and awareness of microbial food
safety and engender interaction between regulatory bodies, other
organisations and the media.
Task NTC III b.2
Coordinated programme of effective dissemination.
Task NTC III b.3
Strengthen NTC Pillers I (SMEs) and II (Training).
Partner 42 will be involved in this NTC Pillar.
Administratorlast update:28 July 2010