Abstract
Changes in consumer attitudes, behaviours and purchasing preferences towards different types of food highlight the increased demand for better quality information on safety, quality and provenance of food products and on sustainability of food production processes. These changes offer both new opportunities and risks for food producers who require mechanisms to better understand and respond to changing consumers’ decision-making trends on food. In the area of food safety, investigation of consumer and producer responses during recall incidents provide an opportunity to holistically understand existing information flows and elicit user requirements necessary for the development of more effective consumer food safety applications.This paper reports on a case study conducted with an Australian premium manufacturing company that experienced a food recall in 2014. The investigation confirms that current Australian food recall response mechanisms do not guarantee a closed loop of communication with all purchasers of a recalled product. It also highlights that producers still face difficulties in understanding how best to effectively understand and respond to different types of consumers. It emerges that recovery from a food incident relies on many factors including pre-existing brand reputation, effective information management, control mechanisms and supply chain partner response. From a consumer perspective, it is evident that consumers’ responses are influenced by various factors that require sensitivity around the choice of information modality and information platform adopted to enhance communications during food recall. The paper highlights the need for further research into understanding consumer food safety behaviours post-purchase to improve the development of consumer food safety applications.
Highlights
For the Australian food industry and in particular, the premium food industry, changing consumer expectations, higher quality & safety standards (Grunert, 2005), and the pervasiveness of mobile and social media (DPMC, 2012) have contributed to increased discussion on appropriate mechanisms for product traceability and for end-consumer engagement
This paper reports on the results of a case study conducted with an Australian premium food producer who experienced a food recall incident in 2014
The case study identifies challenges with current Australian food recall response mechanisms and reports on the factors that contribute to recovery from these recall incidents as well as the difficulties that food producers face in understanding and responding to different types of consumers about food safety
Summary
For the Australian food industry and in particular, the premium food industry, changing consumer expectations, higher quality & safety standards (Grunert, 2005), and the pervasiveness of mobile and social media (DPMC, 2012) have contributed to increased discussion on appropriate mechanisms for product traceability and for end-consumer engagement. While some businesses have embraced the opportunity to value-add with information (Stachowski, 2012), the multi-national structure of much global food production has led to some industry resistance to improved information transparency (Barker, 2014; Kearney, 2010). As with other industry sectors, the adoption and use of mobile technology and social media are improving consumers’ access to information (Heinonen, 2011) It remains much less clear what modes of information delivery, modes of interaction and levels of content complexity are most appropriate and/or effective for different types of consumers. The case study identifies challenges with current Australian food recall response mechanisms and reports on the factors that contribute to recovery from these recall incidents as well as the difficulties that food producers face in understanding and responding to different types of consumers about food safety
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