Enacting freshness in the UK and Portuguese agri-food sectors (invited resubmission)

Terms like 'fresh' and 'natural' are key words in the contemporary food industry, deployed in marketing and related commercial contexts in an almost uniformly positive way. Linking fresh and natural in the context of modern agri-food systems is, however, paradoxical as what is sold as 'fresh' frequently depends on a series of technological innovations (such as refrigeration and long-distance transportation) that are anything but 'natural'.

This project focuses on the commercial, environmental and social significance of 'freshness' as a central issue in the production and consumption of food in two contrasting national contexts (the UK and Portugal) and in three different commodity sectors (fish, poultry, and fruit and vegetables). It examines the complex social and technological arrangements that underpin the production, circulation and consumption of 'fresh' food.

Bringing together the members of three leading European research groups, the project will investigate how 'freshness' is enacted across the UK food supply chain (where survey evidence suggests that consumer concerns about quality and freshness are close to the EU average) and in Portugal (where such concerns are well above the European average). Both countries have had a recent history of 'food scares', undermining consumer confidence and trust in food, but contrast in other areas of culinary practice (including Portugal's association with a so-called 'Mediterranean diet'). While the health benefits of consuming fresh fruit and vegetables are promoted in both countries, the average consumption of fish is three times higher in Portugal than in the UK. Meanwhile, our focus on chicken will allow us to compare the 'freshness' claims associated with chilled and frozen foods in each country, particularly in terms of their perceived convenience, healthiness and sustainability.

Working closely with a range of commercial partners, the project focuses on the post-harvest processing, retailing and consumption of food including the materials (technologies, devices and infrastructures) and competencies (skills, senses, tacit knowledge) that different actors use to assess and categorise food as 'fresh'. Among consumers, we will examine the enactment of freshness in practices of food shopping, storage, cooking, eating and disposal; how meanings of freshness are combined and/or traded-off with other qualities of food (such as taste, price or provenance); and how they are understood through different forms of knowledge. Our methods include archival and documentary research, interviews and observational work with food retailers and suppliers, household observation and video ethnography with consumers and a series of experimental 'tasting events'.

Our findings will be relevant to food studies researchers, food businesses, government officials, and food-related charities and NGOs.

Building on our established track record of user engagement and knowledge exchange (KE), involving a range of commercial partners, government agencies and NGOs, the current project will use a number of pathways to maximise the potential impact of our proposed research on food businesses, public policy and the wider community.

We have letters of support from Marks & Spencer in the UK and Sonae and Jerónimo Martins in Portugal. A strategic partnership is in place between Tesco and the University of Manchester governing the principles of research collaboration between the two institutions. Dr Evans (co-I) has a current knowledge exchange project with Tesco (funded by ESRC) involving interviews with key staff and access to their loyalty card and consumer panel data. Sonae is a major Portuguese retail company whose businesses include the supermarket chain Continente Modelo and the convenience store chain Continente Bom Dia. They have given us permission to observe the 'behind the scenes' operation of their fish and fruit and vegetable departments as well as providing access to key personnel in their technical, marketing and fresh produce departments (fruit and vegetables, meat and fish) for in-depth interviews and observational work. Jerónimo Martins is Portugal's largest food retailer and we have agreement from their Board of Directors to provide access to staff for interviews and work-shadowing, fieldwork in-store and with their suppliers, and involvement in research dissemination. In the UK, we have agreement from the Head of Food Technology at Marks & Spencer (M&S), including permission to observe and interview key staff in their fresh produce division (which includes fish, poultry, and fruit and vegetables) and their suppliers with whom further interviews and observational research will be conducted (see Letters of Support). The proposed research builds on our previous work with M&S which included in-depth interviews with agricultural technologists, product developers, buyers and category managers as well as breeders, growers and processors in their poultry supply chain. Our work with the Coop is at an earlier stage but we are confident of securing access to staff for interviews and observational research.

Our results will be disseminated to all of our commercial partners and to the wider retail sector.

We will use our contacts in UK government departments to ensure that our research has maximum impact on policy and practice including colleagues in the Food Standards Agency whose Social Science Research Committee Jackson chairs; Defra with whom we are currently working on an ERA-Net project; and WRAP's research and evaluation division.

We also seek to have a wider cultural impact through our partners at The British Library, through our participation in the ESRC's Festival of Social Science and through our media contacts in the UK and Portugal.

Specific impact-related mechanisms include:
* an advisory board, whose membership includes international experts in food research, the coordinator of ESRC's Retail Sector Initiative, and The British Library's food specialist, plus representatives from the food industry (M&S) and government (FSA);
* the production of non-technical summaries, distributed through a mailing list of contacts in the food industry, government, charities and NGOs;
* a project web-site and interactive blog to publicise our work and invite external comment on our findings;
* stakeholder workshops in the UK and Portugal to disseminate our results across the entire sector (beyond our specific commercial partners);
* and a final dissemination event, aimed at a national and international academic and non-academic audience.

Besides our academic publications and conference presentations we also plan to disseminate our work via the food trade press and other print, TV and radio journalists.

We estimate that 20% of our non-staff budget is dedicated to impact-related work.