Value-based labels for fresh beef: an overview of French consumer behaviour in a BSE crises context

Abstract

In the last decade, the French beef industry has been through two major health scares related to bovine spongiform encephalopathy. This paper describes and discusses changes in beef supply in France from the consumer’s perspective. The authors review the initiatives implemented in each crisis and show that the immediate effects (slump in consumption),however spectacular, were not the most lasting effects. By contrast, responses from the industry and the authorities brought about a far-reaching change in practices by requiring new instruments to be used (traceability). Yet the information conveyed by this innovation cannot readily be appropriated by consumers who are not conversant with the characteristics of beef production systems.