Food biotechnology: trust and trustworthiness

Abstract

From the perspective of trust, food biotechnology is a special case. It has two sources from which trust questions can occur: the technology and food. This character becomes explicit in dealing with the question how to deal with the lack of or hesitance to trust. Next to strategies to empower consumers/ citizens that reduce the need to trust in the context of biotechnology, approaches that start in trustworthiness are most promising. This holds for individuals as well as institutions. In the context of food biotechnology, showing oneself worthy of trust implies awareness of and clear communication about one’s competence and motivation. The proposal of this chapter to focus on trustworthiness in food biotechnology will not solve all problems related to trust but is an essential step to address the relation between trust and food biotechnology.