Trust Across Europe: Results from a Cross-Country Survey

The paper presents the survey instruments developed in order to collect data on attitudes toward chicken consumption, food risk perception and trust in the food chain actors at a the European level. Consumers segments in five European countries are illustrated with respect to the trust they place upon various information sources through a cluster analysis. The final results evidence the presence of three kinds of consumers characterised by different level of trust in food chain actors and in information sources. Thus influence consumption choices indirectly, rather than in a straightforward manner, through concerns for quality, defined by several criteria and pursued by a number of buying strategies. Opinions on the different actors involved in the food chain, including regulatory and control agencies, are diverse, complex, and sometimes contradictory.