Transparency for Sustainability in the Food Chain

Challenges and Research Needs EFFoST Critical Reviews #2

Gerhard Schiefer, Jivka Deiters

• Publisher: Academic Press
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9780124171954
• eBook ISBN: 9780124172029
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Environmental Science
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Transparency for Sustainability in the Food Chain lays out the key issues and challenges in food safety, food quality, chain integrity, the link with consumers, and the technological base of tracking and tracing systems. This succinct volume brings readers up to speed on the state of the art in these areas, and the research trends in specific domains.Transparency in the food sector, especially to consumers, is one of the priority issues on the agenda of consumer policy representatives. Food scandals and deficiencies in consumer communication have drawn increasing demands for food policies that ensure that food is safe and of the quality consumers expect. Further, consumers increasingly expect that food production processes limit negative impacts on the environment and consider social concerns.Moving toward improved transparency requires action by stakeholders of the food chain but also knowledge on where and how to move. Researchers and professionals working in food sourcing, regulation, safety, and distribution will benefit from this clear overview.- Specifies research to increase transparency in consumer communication- Details the state of the art and research challenges in several specific food supply domains- Involves food safety, food quality, chain integrity, the link with consumers, and the technological base of tracking and tracing systems

Chapter 1

Introduction

This Strategic Research Agenda on “Transparency in the Food Chain” goes back to the Strategic Research Agenda of the European Technology Platform “Food for Life” (http://etp.ciaa.be) where “transparency in the food chain” was mentioned as one of the priority areas for competitiveness of the European food sector that required dedicated research initiatives. This initiated the project “Transparent_Food” (Quality and integrity in food: a challenge for chain communication and transparency research; www.transparentfood.eu) that aims at the identification of barriers and research needs toward improvements in transparency. The project received funding through the EU-Commission within its Seventh Framework program and builds on the engagement of a European consortium with close relationships to working groups of the European Technology Platform “Food for Life.” An advisory board with representatives of stakeholder groups provided support.

Keywords

Transparency; food; food chain; food chain complexity

This Research Agenda on “Transparency in the Food Chain” goes back to the Strategic Research Agenda of the European Technology Platform “Food for Life” (http://etp.ciaa.be) where “transparency in the food chain” was mentioned as one of the priority areas for competitiveness of the European food sector that required dedicated research initiatives. This initiated the project “Transparent_Food” (quality and integrity in food: a challenge for chain communication and transparency research; www.transparentfood.eu) which aims at the identification of barriers and research needs toward improvements in transparency. The project received funding through the EU-Commission within its Seventh Framework program and builds on the engagement of a European consortium with close relationships to working groups of the European Technology Platform “Food for Life.” An advisory board with representatives of stakeholder groups provided support.

Transparency is an emerging issue which depends on innovations in organization and communication. This marks a shift in focus as prime manifestations of innovativeness by food organizations are traditionally linked to product and process innovations.

Although process innovations may be defined as new tools, devices, or procedures, as well as knowledge in throughput technology that mediate between inputs and outputs, product innovation may be seen to do more with the outputs that are introduced for the benefit of consumers and citizens. A plethora of factors has been associated with product innovation. Yet, transparency aspects have not only acquired visibility, they indeed start shaping up entire domains of such influencing factors.

Consider, for instance, country-level environmental factors impacting upon product innovations. Transparency discrepancy-related institutional differences among economies are likely to lead to substantial variation in innovations strategies and patterns of innovative performance.

Consider sector- and business-level external environments. Rapid environmental change and the uncertainty that this often creates for food organizations’ decision-makers certainly stimulates innovation. Product innovations are most prevalent and useful in uncertain environments in which competing products or consumers’ preferences alter significantly. Consumer and food chain requests for fast and greater transparency will almost certainly increase speed and complexity and thus oblige whole business sectors in forward leapfrog-like transparency-related actions for survival.

Consider also how competitive dynamics and hostility will be affected by requests for faster and greater transparency. Food product innovation activity may likely be strongly and positively affected by such competitive dynamics. Perceived increased hostile competitive environments due to increased transparency will also place further pressure on food firms to initiate product innovations. These innovations in effort will improve their ability to make the best use of the resources they have in order to satisfy transparency issues. Increased spending on R&D will also result as food firms will have to quickly copy each other and preempt competition.

Finally, food firms’ market orientation will be affected. Fulfilling requests for greater transparency is likely to oblige further adoption of the marketing concept philosophy and foster the development and marketing of radically and probably better new products, as well as important product modifications.

Transparency itself is a fuzzy domain which very much depends on the perception of people, their background, cultural environment, situation, and expectations. One of the challenges in the sector is to reach a level which can be accepted by a majority of stakeholders as sufficient. It is not only the focus of the project to identify what is sufficient but also to identify research activities that could contribute to reaching an understanding on:

a. what could be considered as present or future “best practice” and

b. what are knowledge deficiencies that limit developments toward this status and require research to overcome.

It is obvious that research alone cannot provide transparency. It requires the preparedness of actors in the field, including policy, enterprises, and service operators to act. Furthermore, as transparency builds on information from throughout the food chain (including agriculture), action requires cooperation and coordination.

In a sector with an open network situation and a majority of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), a coordinated development path is difficult to reach. One might argue that transparency, if requested by consumers, will eventually be reached. However, this might take time if no dedicated coordination activities will be initiated. But whatever the approach, research can facilitate the development and allow a more focused development, reducing risks of failures.

Through collaborative efforts by leading experts from 11 universities and research institutes covering a wide range of research disciplines, the project has captured the present state of the art and deficiencies that required research activities in a number of extensive reports. The analysis involved the review of literature, projects, experiences, and communication with stakeholders through surveys and workshops. A specific initiative involved the analysis of “best practice” examples which demonstrate proven working levels of transparency.

The project summarizes the results in this “Research Compendium” to provide guidance in the initiation of new research projects that could support the sector’s development toward better transparency. It identifies, in a compressed approach, the state of the art, goals, research challenges, and expected deliverables. In Chapter 3, the focus is on tracking and tracing schemes, the information domains of food safety, food quality, food integrity, and the communication with stakeholders through signals and messages. It is complemented by an analysis of experiences from best practice research (Chapter 4) and research proposals linked to communication with stakeholders, the consideration of claims and data ownership and the coordination of sector activities (Chapter 5).

Chapter 2

Problem Scenario and Vision

Transparency is driven by needs. The vision is to reach transparency for everybody from whatever background, whatever situation and for all perceptions. Reaching this state is, however, a challenging and ongoing task considering the dynamics in scenarios and needs.

Transparency involves the process of providing transparency (process-based aspect) while at the same time considering the balance of interests between recipients and providers (power balance aspect) involving consumers and all stakeholders in the chain.

Transparency is one of the most complex and fuzzy issues the sector is facing. This is not only due to complexities in food products and processes but also due to the dynamically changing open network organization of the food sector with its multitude of SMEs (small- and medium-sized enterprises), its cultural diversity, its differences in expectations, its differences in the ability to serve transparency needs, and its lack of a consistent appropriate institutional infrastructure. All of these could support coordinated initiatives toward higher levels of transparency throughout the food value chain and on a global scale.

Keywords

Transparency; food chain; food chain complexity; food processing

Transparency is driven by needs. The vision is to reach transparency for everybody from whatever background and in whatever situation and perception. Reaching this state is, however, a challenging and ongoing task considering the dynamics in scenarios and needs.

Consumers’ trust in food, food production, the origin of food, and the actors involved is a core requirement for the functioning of European food markets and the competitiveness of industry. With the experience of the BSE crises and subsequent food scandals in mind, consumers increasingly expect transparency on which trust can build. Transparency is not meant to know everything but to create awareness on the issues that consumers and customers in the chain are interested in, involving information on the safety and quality of products and processes, and increasingly on issues around environmental, social, and ethical aspects.

Transparency involves the process of providing transparency (process-based aspect) while at the same time considering the balance of interests between recipients and providers (power balance aspect) involving consumers and all stakeholders in the chain:

1. Process-based aspect: Transparency is a set of measures for building up credibility for consumers and customers, through openness, trust, and accountability on activities along the food chain, by underpinning the verity of messages, and by generating the perception of being informed to allow (informed) decisions. This is achieved by making appropriate signals/information available and understandable on the verity of messages (claims, statements) on specific characteristics of products, processes, production environments, activities of actors, and the cultural and legal background of the production which cannot be substantiated by the usual quick and simple methods, characterized either of a positive enhancement or of a negative risk reduction nature.

2. Power balance aspect: The realization of transparency builds on the consideration of the valid, or perceived as such, needs of consumers or customers for facilitating their noninformed or informed decisions and the sound balance with confidentiality needs of food chain members as providers of transparency.

Transparency is one of the most complex and fuzzy issues the sector is facing. The complexities are not only due to complexities in food products and processes but also due to the dynamically changing open network organization of the food sector with its multitude of SMEs, its cultural diversity, its differences in expectations, its differences in the ability to serve transparency needs, and its lack of a consistent appropriate institutional infrastructure that could support coordinated initiatives toward higher levels of transparency throughout the food value chain and on a global scale.

Transparency builds on appropriate signals that integrate available information and communicate a certain “message” to recipients (e.g., food is safe). Transforming information to simple, clear, and easily understandable “messages” and ensuring that messages build on information that can be trusted are key issues in ensuring transparency and trust. The provision of information could involve a broad range of alternatives depending on opportunities but also on the ability and willingness of consumers and decision makers to grasp, interpret, and process the information as needed. Transparency does not build on the communication of an ever-increasing number of information items. The sector has developed many approaches for suitable aggregations and certifications along the way.

Examples include “carbon footprint calculations” aggregating various emissions of greenhouse gases or “GlobalG.A.P. certificates” building on the fulfillment of a broad range of requirements related to food safety, food quality, or environmental and social concerns. The knowledge about the content of certificates allows for disassembling the information bundle into individual information items at the users’ end if necessary. However, in daily life, users are probably more interested in the “message” (“this food is safe”) than in the detailed background information as such, but must at the same time be able to have access to trustworthy information for developing and keeping trust.

Trust is a sensitive “product.” Non-government organisations (NGOs) and other groups are increasingly demonstrating the divergence between claims and reality contributing to the public push toward increased transparency. Claims in this context represent statements on product characteristics (e.g., on quality) that are not directly apparent to consumers upon visual inspection. However, with the scattered company infrastructure of the sector, the deep integration within the food industry and the importance of commodity products in most food products across the sector, reaching transparency is a sector problem that cannot be tackled by individual companies alone. Furthermore, any scandal is damaging the trust in “food” in general, distorts markets, and cannot be limited to the individual company involved.

This requires sector-wide efforts to improve transparency linked to sales products. However, with the dependency of transparency information on the activities of all actors in the value chain, the design of appropriate transparency systems requires cooperation within...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• List of Contributors
• Acknowledgment
• Executive Summary
• Chapter 1. Introduction
• Chapter 2. Problem Scenario and Vision
• Chapter 3. Stakeholders for Transparency
• Chapter 4. Challenges and Experiences
• Chapter 5. Good Practice Experiences: An Integrated View
• Chapter 6. Enabling Activities and Needs for Action
• Chapter 7. Concluding Remarks
• Reference List (Reports to the European Commission)
• Glossary of Selected Transparency Indicators