Elena Ganskau

Trust in Coping with Food Risks: the Case of St. Petersburg Consumers Elena Ganskau

The revelation that eating can pose risks makes consumers rethink the ways they choose and eat foods. Today market choice becomes more shaped by references to safety. This book is focused on concepts of safe and risky food consumption and consumer trust as a strategy aimed at avoiding food risks. First, it addresses approaches to trust and risk within social sciences, as well as maps the field of sociological understanding of consumer trust. Further, it presents general institutional conditions for consumer trust in Russia. It is followed by a summary description of the food market and tendencies in food consumption. Finally, discourses connected to food risks, safety and consumer trust are explored on the basis of semi-structured interviews with consumers and food experts, i.e. representatives of the food market, state control and consumer organizations. This book is to be useful to researchers in Sociology and Marketing fields, or anyone else who is interested in food safety issues.