Central Coast consumers want more food-related information, from safety to ethics

C are increasingly able to influence the way food is produced, processed, transported and sold through their purchasing decisions (Kinsey 1999). It is therefore surprising that few studies have attempted to find out what these potentially powerful consumers want to know about the food system, in order to anticipate these changes. Most consumer research related to food and agriculture is conducted by organizations with specific interests, such as the promotion of a particular commodity or type of production. Researchers typically decide what people ought to know, and then proceed to measure their knowledge (or lack of knowledge) to identify where education and marketing efforts should be targeted (James 2004). Such an approach may risk missing what the public actually wants to know — information that could help growers, processors and retailers plan for consumer-driven changes. We asked consumers themselves what aspects of food production, processing, transportation and retailing they were most interested in knowing RESEARCH ARTICLE