ABSTRACT
Food labels have become an important medium through which many consumers come to understand and appreciate foods. This chapter focuses attention on ethical food labels, such as organic, fair-trade and animal-welfare friendly, and examines both the context in which these labels emerge and the effects that these labels exert in the marketplace and beyond. It provides an overview of some of the current academic literatures on ethical food labeling and discusses work that situates ethical food labelling within its broader socio-economic context. The chapter draws on the academic literature to identify a range of precursors for the emergence and growth of ethical food labels. It focuses on the effects of ethical food labels, and discusses how these labels can function both to increase the market share of ethically produced foods but also, and perhaps more significantly, to provide support for traditional political mechanisms, such as influencing public opinion, shoring up current support and lobbying producers, retailers and policy makers.
