Social media erodes consumer trust in meat

“Social media is seen as the industry’s worst nightmare,​” said Ted Bilyea, an agri-food consultant and president of the Canadian Agri-food Policy Institute. Bilyea spoke at the World Meat Congress​ (WMC) 2016 in Uruguay and gave a scathing assessment of social media’s impact on the industry.

Speaking on the issue of consumer trust, he warned the speed at which a news story can travel on social media created another challenge for the meat industry as it tries to improve its trustworthy credentials.

There are a host of challenges linked to consumer trust that the meat industry has to contend with, such as climate change​, land degradation, animal welfare​ and disease​. And thanks to the speed at which a negative news story can spread globally across social media, organisations need to work harder on gaining consumer trust, noted Bilyea.

The big bad wolf​

“The need for full traceability back to the farm is a necessity for any food safety governance structure,​” he said, adding other ways to build trust could be through accountability. “What is urgently needed is an industry database to track food safety, animal welfare abuse, fraud and other related issues.​”

Building consumer trust through accountability and trust was an issue debated frequently at the bi-annual WMC 2016. Jack Macintyre, lead analyst at foodservice insights firm Canadean, also warned the meat industry was being tainted as the “big bad wolf​” in food production. This was causing consumers to distrust retailers and food manufactures, he said.

Trust is attainable​

Consumer trust in the meat industry has been severely tested by a string of scandals, including the horsemeat adulteration saga​, the pink slime​ scandal and claims that Russia’s market is filled with counterfeit meat.​

But long-lasting trust is entirely achievable for the meat industry, according to Rod Slater, chief executive officer of Beef + Lamb New Zealand. He said businesses with trust are able to grow their organisation by following three core competencies: service, consistency and transparency.