Blaming the consumer: On the free choice of consumers and the decline in food quality in Denmark

Abstract

The concept of victim blaming appears in critical discussions of public health but it also has relevance in other political areas. In public debate in Denmark consumers are blamed for the decline in the quality of foods found on the Danish market, because they are seen as exclusively oriented towards cheap food and not interested in good quality fare. This paper addresses the way in which consumers relate to the issue of food quality in their everyday lives. Using a qualitative interview study, it asks how consumers view the foods they find on the Danish market and how they try to ensure that they get foods of the quality they prefer. Consumer conceptualizations of food quality not only related to the consumer's personal world, or individual well-being, but readily included broader societal concerns. Most consumers, however, reported that they were unable to buy food of the quality they wanted and saw the food they did buy as a compromise between their own demands, the pressures of everyday life and the inscrutabilities of the food market. Interviews with a small sample of individuals from the food industry and retail sector contrasted with the reports of consumers. These individuals viewed consumers as either conservative or unpredictable, although they also thought consumers focused on cheap foods. Producers and retailers displayed conflicting understandings of what caused the decline in food quality, and described barriers to product development and improved quality of foods. In Denmark food quality is an important issue in the wider public debate on the future of Danish export income, as this income depends largely on food and agricultural products. A recent change in government policies on the food sector, following the latest election, suggests that in the future consumers will continue to be blamed for any decline in food quality on the Danish market.