Sofia Kuhn (EITFood, BE)

A distant past studying animal behaviour and a general fascination with science and making sense of science has shaped my career. I'm driven by the notion that a better understanding of the world around us, will create a better world. By working in areas where I can encourage citizen understanding and involvement around topics with environmental and health impacts, I feel I can contribute towards that notion. Currently, I am the Programme Manager for Consumer Outreach at EIT Food.

EIT Food connects consumers with businesses, start-ups, researchers and students from around Europe to support innovative and economically sustainable initiatives which improve our health, our access to quality food, and our environment. By putting citizens and their needs at the centre, EIT Food aims to bring about real awareness and behaviour change towards a more sustainable and healthier Europe.

Bridging the trust gap in the food sector

While the food industry is keen to improve their market offerings to address consumer health and environmental needs, there are still low levels of trust in the food sector. Potentially, this results from a gap between what consumers want and need, and what the food industry as a whole currently provides. Yet importantly, we need to have the right tools to measure consumer trust, which is key to understanding and improving consumers’ faith in food. The EIT Food TrustTracker® and Citizen Participation Forum projects aim to better understand the current status of consumer trust and to track it over time. This presentation will look at what motivates people toward less healthy, safe or sustainable behaviours in relation to food and what the current status of trust in different food entities looks like.