Food and Health Actor Strategies in Information and Communication

Food is a major health issue; the links between diet and health are dominant in nutrition discourse and practice.

Food and Health: Actor Strategies in Information and Communication identifies the informational practices of nutrition professionals and consumers to study the structural elements of food and health. It analyzes the communication strategies of actors and the dissemination and use of information related to both food for health and health through food.

The book considers nutrition from the point of view of public policies, educational organizations, preventive measures, consumers and patients.

Viviane Clavier is Maître de conférences HDR at the University of Grenoble, France, where she teaches information and communication sciences. She is also a member of GRESEC, a multi-disciplinary research group exploring the challenges of modern communication tools.

Jean-Philippe De Oliveira is Maître de conférences in the information and communication sciences at the University of Grenoble. He is also a member of the GRESEC research group.

Preface xi
Viviane CLAVIER and Jean-Philippe DE OLIVEIRA

Introduction xiii
Viviane CLAVIER and Jean-Philippe DE OLIVEIRA

Part 1. Public Space and Communication and Legitimization Strategies 1

Chapter 1. Food as a Public Health Problem: Convergences and Divergences of Public and Private Actor Games 3
Sylvie BARDOU-BOISNIER and Jean-Philippe DE OLIVEIRA

1.1. Introduction 3

1.2. The “crisis of confidence” in the agri-food industries 5

1.2.1. Food and fear 6

1.2.2. A generalized crisis of agri-food companies and their communication policies 10

1.2.3. An evolution in consumer food practices 14

1.3. Food as a public health issue 15

1.3.1. Organizations and the emergence of a societal issue 16

1.3.2. Constituted audiences and opinion leaders 18

1.4. The PNNS: communication and actors’ logic 20

1.4.1. A consensus on the need for regulation 20

1.4.2. The PNNS as a framework for the State: better production for better communication? 22

1.5. Conclusion 25

1.6. References 26

Chapter 2. From Controversy to Media Controversy: Analysis of Communication Strategies Concerning the Health Risk of Growing Limousin Apples 29
Christelle DE OLIVEIRA and Audrey MOUTAT

2.1. Introduction 29

2.2. The Limousin apple at the heart of a controversy 31

2.3. Unbalanced communication strategies 37

2.4. From controversy to media controversy 42

2.5. Conclusion 47

2.6. References 49

Chapter 3. Naming “Antibiotic-Free” Meat: American Agri-Food Industry Communication between Commitment and Guaranteeing Food Safety 53
Estera BADAU

3.1. Globalization of the antimicrobial resistance problem and diversification of action programs 53

3.2. A variety of formulas to name “antibiotic-free” meat in the United States 54

3.3. Problematization, hypothesis and methodology 56

3.4. Stages of progressive communication 60

3.4.1. The voluntary approach 60

3.4.2. First naming attempts 62

3.4.3. Commitment through action 62

3.5. Emergence and use of the no antibiotics ever and no/without medically important antibiotics formulas 63

3.5.1. Private industry’s claim and takeover of an institutional formula 63

3.5.2. Brand commitment and guarantee of food safety 64

3.6. Conclusion 66

3.7. Appendix. Methodological aspects: corpus building 68

3.7.1. The press corpus compiled for our thesis work 68

3.7.2. Constitution of the corpus for this chapter 68

3.8. References 72

Chapter 4. From Health Responsibility to Ethical Responsibility: The Legitimization of New Vegetable Experts in France 75
Clémentine HUGOL-GENTIAL, Sarah BASTIEN, Hélène BURZALA and Audrey NOACCO

4.1. Introduction 75

4.2. Expert nutritionists and the gradual erasure of the traditional expert figure 78

4.3. Dissemination of the socio-ecological discourse on vegetables: the dissolution of journalistic discourse in favor of “ethical” value 84

4.4. Chefs and culinary experts: from the acceleration of public authorities’ health discourse to an integrative discourse on ethics 86

4.5. Conclusion 90

4.6. References 92

Part 2. Education and Prevention: A Critical Approach to Discourses and Dispositives 97

Chapter 5. Food at School: Between Science and Norm 99
Simona DE IULIO, Susan KOVACS, Christian ORANGE, Denise ORANGE-RAVACHOL and Davide BORRELLI

5.1. Introduction 99

5.2. Using scientific expertise to achieve public policy 102

5.2.1. Public policy on food education: strategic use of studies and statistics on obesity and overweight 102

5.2.2. The “Food Education” page of the Éduscol web portal: rewriting technocratic science 104

5.3. Food pedagogy and the challenge of school interdisciplinarity 107

5.3.1. Promoting interdisciplinarity across school subjects 107

5.3.2. Interdisciplinarity in teachers’ discourse 111

5.4. Food pedagogy and food communication dispositives: applied or normative science? 116

5.4.1. In praise of applied science: food in school textbooks 116

5.4.2. Playful science as a means to promote eating behaviors 118

5.4.3. When students take on the role of statisticians: relaying technocratic science 121

5.5. Conclusion 123

5.6. References 124

Chapter 6. Info-educational Dispositives to Educate Children about Nutrition 129
Marie BERTHOUD

6.1. Introduction 129

6.2. Educating about the nutritional model 133

6.3. Designing info-pedagogical dispositives to educate about nutrition in schools 134

6.3.1. The association of multiple professionals 135

6.3.2. A homogeneous production 136

6.4. Adapted national dispositives 139

6.4.1. “Léo and Léa”: info-educational dispositives for schools 139

6.4.2. A tool belonging to national public institutions 142

6.4.3. A tool to mobilize children 144

6.5. Conclusion 147

6.6. References 148

Chapter 7. Communication and Nutrition: The Clinician’s Point of View 151
Anne-Laure BOREL

7.1. Introduction 151

7.2. The physiology of eating behavior and its dysfunction in terms of obesity 152

7.3. The “confusiogenic” effect of communication on nutrition among obese people 154

7.4. The danger of increasing the stigmatization of obese people through communication on nutrition 156

7.5. The danger of increased eating disorders through nutrition communication 158

7.6. Conclusion 159

7.7. References 160

Part 3. Information, Food and Health: Consumers’ and Patients’ Points of View 161

Chapter 8. Information Resources and Information Practices in the Context of the Medicalization of Food 163
Viviane CLAVIER

8.1. Introduction 163

8.2. Taking context into account in the study of information practices and information resources 165

8.2.1. The medicalization of food 165

8.2.2. From nutritional information to the nutritionalization of knowledge 168

8.2.3. Three social logics in the health sector 170

8.3. More diversified information practices than in the health field 171

8.3.1. Targeted and intentional practices 172

8.3.2. Floating and unintentional practices 174

8.4. Sources of information and forms of medicalization of knowledge 175

8.4.1. Nutrition professionals as resources 176

8.4.2. Food in health discussion forums 178

8.5. Conclusion 182

8.6. References 183

Chapter 9. Labeling for Sustainable Food: The Consumer’s Point of View 189
Anne LACROIX, Laurent MULLER and Bernard RUFFIEUX

9.1. The potential role of labeling in a sustainable food perspective 189

9.2. Data collection techniques 191

9.2.1. Observing information behaviors when purchasing 194

9.2.2. Defining priorities for information 196

9.2.3. Identifying opinions and beliefs 198

9.2.4. Assessing expectations 199

9.3. Limited use of information when purchasing 200

9.3.1. Consultation of a small part of the available information 200

9.3.2. Price and origin: major benchmarks 201

9.3.3. Influence of education and income levels on the use of information 201

9.3.4. Diversified benchmarks for sustainable food 202

9.4. A widely shared desire for more information 203

9.4.1. A significant demand for information from less well-off consumers 203

9.4.2. Packaging: a favored material 204

9.4.3. Priorities for clarification information on packaging 204

9.5. Opinions expressing beliefs and mistrust 205

9.5.1. Origin, a vector of beliefs on sustainable food 205

9.5.2. Mistrust towards all actors in the food chain 206

9.5.3. Simpler and more practical labeling 206

9.5.4. A plea for comprehensive information 207

9.6. Conclusions 208

9.6.1. From desired information to the information used 208

9.6.2. Sustainable food from a consumer point of view 208

9.7. Implications for stakeholders 209

9.8. Appendices 211

9.8.1. Appendix 1. Screenshot of the online experiment 211

9.8.2. Appendix 2. Screenshot of the face-to-face survey 212

9.9. References 213

Chapter 10. Social Appropriation of “Diet and Health” Information: From Public Health Campaigns to Digital Tools 217
Faustine RÉGNIER

10.1. Introduction 217

10.2. Dissemination and appropriation of “diet and health” information in public health campaigns 220

10.2.1. Dissemination of general information 220

10.2.2. General information: socially unequal reception 221

10.3. “Diet and health” information and personalized digital tools: issues and shifts 225

10.3.1. Customization tools: are they effective media? 225

10.3.2. First lessons: plural shifts and appropriations of information via digital technology 228

10.4. Conclusion 234

10.5. References 235

Postface 239
David DOUYÈRE

List of Authors 243

Index 245

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