Withall Elizabeth, Wilson Annabelle M, Henderson Julie, Tonkin Emma, Coveney John, Meyer Samantha B, Clark Jacinta, McCullum Dean, Ankeny Rachel, Ward Paul R
Discipline of Public Health, School of Health Sciences, Flinders University, Bedford Park, Adelaide, SA, Australia, 5042.
School of Health Sciences, Flinders University, Bedford Park, Adelaide, SA, Australia, 5042.
BMC Public Health. 2016 Dec 9;16(1):1241. doi: 10.1186/s12889-016-3900-5.
Contemporary food systems are vast and complex, creating greater distance between consumers and their food. Consequently, consumers are required to put faith in a system of which they have limited knowledge or control. Country of origin labelling (CoOL) is one mechanism that theoretically enables consumer knowledge of provenance of food products. However, this labelling system has recently come under Australian Government review and recommendations for improvements have been proposed. Consumer engagement in this process has been limited. Therefore this study sought to obtain further consumer opinion on the issue of CoOL and to identify the extent to which Australian consumers agree with Australian Government recommendations for improvements.
A citizens' jury was conducted with a sample of 14 South Australian consumers to explore their perceptions on whether the CoOL system allows them to make informed food choices, as well as what changes (if any) need to be made to enable informed food choices (recommendations).
Overall, jurors' perception of usefulness of CoOL, including its ability to enable consumers to make informed food choices, fluctuated throughout the Citizens' Jury. Initially, the majority of the jurors indicated that the labels allowed informed food choice, however by the end of the session the majority disagreed with this statement. Inconsistencies within jurors' opinions were observed, particularly following delivery of information from expert witnesses and jury deliberation. Jurors provided recommendations for changes to be made to CoOL, which were similar to those provided in the Australian Government inquiry.
Consumers in this study engaged with the topical issue of CoOL and provided their opinions. Overall, consumers do not think that the current CoOL system in Australia enables consumers to make informed choices. Recommendations for changes, including increasing the size of the label and the label's font, and standardising its position, were made.
当代食品系统庞大而复杂，使得消费者与他们的食物之间的距离更远。因此，消费者不得不信任一个他们了解和控制有限的系统。原产国标签（CoOL）是一种理论上能让消费者了解食品来源的机制。然而，这个标签系统最近受到了澳大利亚政府的审查，并提出了改进建议。消费者在这一过程中的参与有限。因此，本研究旨在进一步获取消费者对原产国标签问题的意见，并确定澳大利亚消费者在多大程度上同意澳大利亚政府的改进建议。
对14名南澳大利亚消费者进行了公民陪审团调查，以探讨他们对原产国标签系统是否能让他们做出明智的食品选择的看法，以及需要做出哪些改变（如果有的话）以实现明智的食品选择（建议）。
总体而言，在公民陪审团过程中，陪审员对原产国标签有用性的看法，包括其让消费者做出明智食品选择的能力，有所波动。最初，大多数陪审员表示这些标签能让他们做出明智的食品选择，但在会议结束时，大多数人不同意这一说法。观察到陪审员意见存在不一致，特别是在听取专家证人的信息和陪审团审议之后。陪审员提出了对原产国标签进行更改的建议，这些建议与澳大利亚政府调查中提出的建议相似。
本研究中的消费者参与了原产国标签这一热门话题并提供了他们的意见。总体而言，消费者认为澳大利亚目前的原产国标签系统不能让消费者做出明智的选择。提出了更改建议，包括增加标签的尺寸和字体大小，以及规范其位置。
