Making sustainable food choices easier for consumers

FOOD2030: Consumers and GlobalFood Systems

11th October 2016

BEUC - Who we are and what we do

• BEUC is the umbrella organisation in Brussels for 42 independent national consumer organisations.

• Five priorities: Financial Services, Food, Digital Rights, Consumer Rights & Enforcement and Sustainability.

• We work to ensure that consumer policy at EU level is sustainable for all (incl. vulnerable groups and low-income consumers).

• Beyond Europe, we collaborate closely with CI (Consumers International) and TACD (Transatlantic Consumer Dialogue).

BEUC’s vision:

A sustainable food system

guarantees safe, affordable

and healthy food for all

consumers while using

natural resources at a pace

that observes the capacity of

the earth to replenish them.

What do consumers think?

• Consumers are generally unaware of the scale of the challenges the food system faces.

• But if told about the problems, they are concerned and want more information about how their food is produced and how they can access sustainable and healthier choices.

Source: Which? and UK Government Office for Science (2015), “Public Dialogue on food system challenges and possible solutions”

• Still they struggle to make more sustainable (incl. healthier) food choices (attitude-behaviour gap):

• limited availability

• higher prices (real or perceived)

• unclear labelling

• confusing message and trade-offs (e.g. fish)

Raise consumer awareness about today’s food production

• Inform consumers about where and how their food is produced

The example of food origin labelling

Provide information consumers can use

• Too many labels, some little known, many poorly understood.

• Consistency needed to avoid confusion and facilitate comparison.

• Truthful (avoid green washing), independent labels underpinned by transparent criteria.

• User-friendly

Can issues be combined into a single composite label (“sustainability score” vs. series of individual elements of sustainability)?

Cut food waste – The scale of the problem

• In the EU, food waste is expected to rise to about 126 million tonnes a year by 2020 unless action is taken.

Source: European Commission

• Food waste is a shared responsibility of all actors in the food chain, incl. consumers.

• A consumer issue with ethical, environmental and economic dimensions.

Source: EP Research Service Source: Test-Achats, 2014

Cut food waste – What needs to be done?

• Get a better picture on which foods are wasted the most, where in the food chain and why.

• Date labelling:

• Help consumers make more sense of ‘use by’ and ‘best before’ dates

• More realistic food dates based on a set of clear and transparent rules

• Awareness raising campaigns and wide dissemination to the public of tips that can help consumers waste less food.

• Concerted action from all actors in the chain (from farmers to industry, retailers, consumers and caterers)

Make healthy & sustainable eating less of a challenge for consumers

• Create an environment that supports healthy food choices, which is not the case today:

o sweets, biscuits placed within children’s reach next to checkout in nearly 90% of Swiss supermarket (FRC, 2013)

o “all-you-can-drink” soda fountains and supersize menus

o half of special offers in UK supermarkets on unhealthy food (2016, Which?)

o food offer in vending machines

• Sustainable “by design”: make food production more sustainable by integrating sustainability elements in food production standards.

• Increase the availability and affordability of healthy and sustainable food options.

• Involve consumers in discussions on possible solutions to make food systems more sustainable.

Research needs?

• Regular and on-going consumer research and insight to ensure that innovation in the agri-food sector captures the consumer dimension (issues of consumer concern, acceptability of solutions).

• Develop a better understanding of the consumer attitude-behaviour gap in order to identify the most effective measures/incentives to enhance sustainable food consumption.

• Consumer representatives should be involved … but very often lack resources to contribute.

• Trust in science factor: need to reverse trend of shrinking public funding of research

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Thank you for your attention