TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE FOOD CONSUMPTION IN THE EU: CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY

Abstract

This paper explores the construction of sustainable food consumers and their role in securing the transition to a sustainable food system in the European Union. Drawing from studies of governmentality and employing the P.A.C.T. routine theoretical model of consumer responsibilisation, the aim was to analyse the ways in which the responsibilisation for making sustainable food choices has been formulated through the Farm to Fork Strategy. This strategy emphasises the importance of educating and empowering consumers to make sustainable food choices, as reflected in discursive formations and initiatives like the improvement of the EU food labelling system. However, the paper stresses that promoting sustainable consumption as a matter of consumer choice-driven responsibility could disproportionately burden consumers and deepen social inequalities without successfully addressing environmental issues.

Keywords

• consumerism
• individualisation of responsibility
• sustainable food consumption
• farm to fork strategy
• governmentality