An Ethical Toolkit for Food Companies: Reflections on its Use

Abstract

Nowadays many debates are going on that relate to the agricultural and food sector. It looks as if present technological and organizational developments within the agricultural and food sector are badly geared to societal needs and expectations. In this article we briefly present a toolkit for moral communication within the food chain. This toolkit is developed as part of a European research project. Next, we discuss what such a toolkit can bring about, given the characteristics of the present day agricultural and food sector and its wider context. We defend that the toolkit can be seen as one of the mechanisms that can help enterprises in the agricultural and food sector to be accountable. It should, however, be complemented with other mechanisms, first, to empower the wider public and, second, to stimulate a dialogue, on a more equal footing, between public authorities, citizens, and economic actors.

Ecological Concerns about Genetically Modified (GM) Food Consumption using the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)

“…Previous studies have indicated that there is limited understanding of the potential ecological effects of the application of ethical considerations (Deblonde et al, 2007;Dowd & Burke, 2013). Ecological problems have been connected to negative societal responses, even though attitudes toward the benefits of genetically modified (GM) foods may offset attitudes about its environmental risks (Dowd & Burke, 2013).…”

Consumer choice of broiler meat: The effects of country of origin and production methods

“…In the last decade there have been many public and private initiatives to improve standards and introduce food quality schemes in Europe (Deblonde, De Graaff, & Brom, 2007;Trienekens & Zuurbier, 2008). Business-to-consumer quality labels often communicate information on the country of origin, good manufacturing practices or production methods.…”

CSR Practices and Corporate Strategy: Evidence from a Longitudinal Case Study

“…Today's consumers are more and more uncertain about how food companies really behave and how much are they socially responsible (Deblonde et al, 2007); the progressive globalisation of the food supply chain has generated uncertainty on safety and security practices; the consumption of mass food has addressed concerns about pandemic diseases (e.g. mad cow disease, foot and mouth disease, bird flu); the increasing awareness about the risks related to obesity has generated criticism of marketing and distribution practices; the use of genetically modified ingredients has raised the debate about how trustworthy is product labelling (MacDonald and Whellams, 2007) etc.…”

“…fair trade products, eco-compatibility). In this view, Business Ethics and CSR practices become a mean of competitive advantage for food companies (Deblonde et al, 2007).…”