Accounting for Taste: Contested Accountability Regulation in Food
Lead Researchers: Prof Robert Lee, Prof Terry Marsden, Dr Andrew Flynn, Dr Samarthia Thankappan (Alumni) & Lisa Carson (Alumni).
This Project focused on the key themes of accountability across the food supply chain, and scrutinised actions that take place above the level of the nation-state, at state, regional and local levels, as well as by vested private interests (business) and consumer/social groups. The changing dynamics within food supply chains were examined, including the emergence of alternatives to "conventional" agro-food supply chains such as organic producers. It analysed the role of key stakeholders, including governments, consumers, retailers and producers, in shaping this evolution through regulatory case studies and analysis of industry trends.
The project explored issues related to the following themes:
Sustainability: Exploring the degree to which dominant strategies of food regulation in the UK are reconfiguring the space within which alternative food supply chains function.
Social Responsibility: Regulation and accountability concerns within the agri-food supply chain impose social responsibility obligations on key actor groups. This project aimed to help illuminate how this obligation of social responsibility is mediated.
Re-conceptualising Business Communications: Food regulations concerning GMOs, for instance, are used to delineate how the context and content of consumer information has been evolving.
Redefining Business Responsibilities: The apparent migration of responsibility for food safety and quality from the consuming state to private interests and food exporting countries.
Back to Accountability, Governance and Regulation theme page.
