Consuming Interests The Social Provision of Foods

Examining corporate retailers, government regulators, and consumer organizations involved in the food sector, Marsden and Andrew Flynn (environmental policy and planning, Cardiff U., UK) and Michelle Harrison, a researcher at the Henley Centre in London, raise several questions about what the public can expect their governments to do about food safety and quality, what limits may be placed upon states' actions, and what the appropriate balances might be between public and private interests in the acquisition of quality foods.

Combining theory, research and policy Consuming Interests provides a topical interdisciplinary exploration into the nature of food provision, policy and regulation. The book provides a detailed examination of corporate retailers, state agencies and consumer organisations involved in the food sector. The analysis explores questions including: * what can the public expect from the state* what limits are there on state action* what are the most appropriate balancesbetween public and private interests in the provision of 'quality' foods.

List of figures; List of tables; List of abbreviations; Preface Food and the State, The State of Food;6L Chapter 1: Introduction Section 1 Concepts and framework; Chapter 2 Food policy and regulation; Chapter 3 Restructuring and retailing;Chapter 4 Citizenship, consumption and food rights Section 2 National strategies; Chapter 5 Food consumers: the limits of formal and collective representaion; Chapter 6 The retailers: the emergence of retailer-led food governance;Chapter 7 Evolving models of food regulation; Section 3 Local strategies Chapter 8 Local retail-consumption spaces and hierarchies;Chapter 9 The nationalisation of food regulation: coping with space; Chapter 10 The local regulatory interface: enforcement practice on the ground; Chapter 11 Conculsions: retailing, regulation and consumption Appendix: The social research methods employed in the study. Bibliography

Flynn, Andrew; Harrison, Michelle; Marsden, Terry