The public and agriculture: the consumer perspective

Abstract

Consumers’ Association (CA) campaigns on behalf of all UK consumers. CA is a not-for-profit organisation, funded through the sale of our Which? range of consumer information and products. We are founder members of BEUC, the European consumer organisation and Consumers International (CI), the international federation of consumer organisations.Food has always been one of our main campaigning areas because it is so central to people’s lives. We have been key players in debates around food policy over the last twenty years and successfully campaigned for the establishment of the Food Standards Agency, following a succession of food scares and a breakdown in consumer confidence in the way that food issues were handled. The over-arching aim of our food campaign is ‘for all consumers to have access to food that is safe, nutritious of good quality and affordable, and to make healthy lifestyle and informed food choices.’ Our current campaigns, focusing on areas where we consider there to be significant consumer detriment, include: food labelling and claims, genetically modified foods, prior approval of food premises in order to help reduce food poisoning, and meat safety.