Vision and objectives

The vision of the e-Trust project is to provide consumers with high quality food they do trust and can afford. The combination of trust and affordability can be reached through improvements in trade processes and in the communication of trustworthiness between trading partners along the chain. The project delivers concepts for trade relationships that combine actual e-commerce developments with trust mediating functionalities. It will support both, improvements in consumers’ food supply situation and the competitiveness of the European food sector.

To transfer this vision into action, the e-Trust project has the objective to facilitate the uptake of ecommerce technologies by food sector SMEs to support the exploitation and take up of the power of business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce technology for cost-efficiency in food chains for competitiveness of the European food sector and the well-being of European consumers. The take up of B2B e-commerce is one of the key issues and core challenges for the competitiveness of European food chains. The project will create "advisory packages" explaining to the stakeholders how to bridge the gap between the innovative ICT potentials for cost-efficient processes in the European food chain and the trust between companies in the food chain demanded by food quality issues. The e-Trust project will identify appropriate combinations of trust elements for B2B e-commerce for food quality and food safety for

• each of the main regional, European and internationals food chains (e.g. the meat chain, the fresh fruit and vegetable chain, the grain chain) and
• the European and international countries involved.

This project is highly relevant to the Food Quality and Safety Priority as it contributes to the wellbeing of European citizens through high quality, safe to eat, and affordable food. The e-Trust project creates consumer confidence through transparent, trustworthy food chains able to deliver guarantees to consumers and ensures the affordability of high quality food by exploiting the potential of B2B ecommerce for cost-efficient processes in food chains. The project is highly relevant to the horizontal objectives for SSAs, as it promotes SME participation to facilitate the uptake of new technologies by SMEs, stimulates international cooperation by including partners from Brazil and the US to analyse the relevant food chains between these countries and Europe, and links with new Member States and associated candidate countries as it includes partners from Slovenia and Turkey.

To secure the impact of the e-Trust project on the well-being of European consumers and the competitiveness of the European food sector, the "advisory packages" will be created. They are communication devices to inform stakeholders of the project, European food sector SMEs and ICT providers how to generate trust and guarantees regarding food quality and food safety for the take up of e-commerce technologies in European food chains and how to mediate trust between companies in the European food chains with electronic commerce technologies. The "advisory packages" include how to communicate food safety guaranties and food quality signs with electronic commerce technology for cost-efficient processes. Different food chains (e.g. the meat chain, the fruits and vegetables chain, or the grain chain) in different European countries with a different cultural background may require different combinations.

For optimal dissemination of the "advisory packages" to the stakeholders in the European food sector, the project collaborates with a leading food sector consultancy, food sector SMEs and industry associations representing the European food sector. The intense communication with SMEs during the study and analysis activities is an essential part of the dissemination activities as it generates sensibility for the potentials from electronic commerce technology. Dedicated workshops with food sector companies will be organized for each participating country in the local language in order to reach the SMEs best and to foster the uptake of new e-commerce technologies by food sector SMEs in the European Union for the competitiveness of the European food sector and the well-being of European consumers (see paragraph 7, WP 8).

To reach the objective of facilitate the uptake of business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce by SMEs in the European food sector for cost-efficiency in food chains and therefore the competitiveness of the European food sector and the well-being of European customers, the e-Trust project has the following sub-objectives:

• Collection of trust elements for food quality and food safety in business relationships with regard to cultural differences in European and creation of a typology of these trust elements (e.g. trust in quality and safety of food products, trust in food production processes, trust in quality signs) (see paragraph 7, WP 3).
• Identification of ways to mediate and generate trust regarding food quality and food safety in B2B electronic commerce in food chains (e.g. trust in quality signs, trust in e-commerce infrastructure, trust in guaranties of food quality (see paragraph 7, WP 4).
• Analysis of food chains with demands from food quality and food safety and typical food quality risks along these chains (e.g., fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, meat, grain) (see paragraph 7, WP 5).
• Assessment of the importance of trust elements for food quality and food safety in these product chains and on different chain levels (e.g. production to wholesale trade, wholesale trade to industry, or wholesale trade to retail) (see paragraph 7, WP 6) in order to assess the relative importance of trust elements in different food chains and cultural backgrounds.
• Assessment of the interchangeability of traditional trust with electronically mediated trust for different food chains and chain levels, respectively, and for different European cultural backgrounds (see paragraph 7, WP 7).

To manage the achievement of these sub-objectives, the e-Trust project creates a professional coordination and management of the project (see paragraph 7, WP 1) and an intense communication of the project’s participants supported by an electronic collaboration platform and videoconferences (see paragraph 7, WP 2). The project will setup an International European expert network with

• leading scientists in the fields of food quality management in the food chain, food safety management in the food chain, tracking and tracing, and food chains, from a variety of countries (Germany, The Netherlands, Austria, Spain, Italy, Greece, Slovenia, Turkey) and to analyse
  • the food chains in their countries relevant to the e-Trust project and
  • the cultural influence particular to their country on food quality demands from consumers and along the food chain on trust in business relationships in the food chains.
• business representatives, food chain management consultants and SMEs from the European food sector included in the advisory board (see APPENDIX A and paragraphs 6 and 7). The business representatives and consultants act as intermediaries to SMEs in the European food sector and organize
  • the participation of SMEs in the project in order to reach the largest possible number of SMEs in the European food sector and
  • the communication and dissemination of the project’s results to SMEs in different European countries.

The project includes international partners from the US and Brazil as these countries are the main suppliers of food to Europe outside the EU.