Journal Article

Understanding the Importance of International Quality Standards Regarding Global Trade in Food and Agricultural Products: Analysis of the German Media

Pietrzyck, Katja, Berke, Nora, Petersen, Brigitte, Wendel, Vanessa, Steinhoff-Wagner, Julia, Jarzębowski, Sebastian

2021

Overview

Rapid globalization of the agrifood industry has important impacts on international trade and quality management (QM). Likewise, the European Union has negotiated a series of bilateral free trade agreements. Of note was the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) with the United States of America, where the debate focused on the mutual recognition and harmonization of quality standards, especially for agricultural and food products. This topic offered the mainstream media excellent substances for coverage. This paper explores German print media, television, and radio on the importance of international quality standards in the agrifood sectors in light of the TTIP. A quantitative and qualitative empirical content analysis was performed to investigate media reporting regarding (a) it is scientific character, (b) the use of the term “quality standards” of the agrifood industry, and (c) the reporting on the agrifood industry and QM linked with TTIP, focused on harmonization. The results showed that interrelations between QM and global trade were not presented to recipients in-depth. A trend toward information asymmetries in recipient’s knowledge is indicated. The study addresses recommendations for future collaborations between media, policy-makers, and further cooperation in the mutual recognition and harmonization of quality standards and control procedures within global trade.

• Publisher: MDPI AG
• Subject: Agribusiness / Agricultural production / Agricultural products / Agriculture / agrifood sector / Consumer protection / Content analysis / Data analysis / Empirical analysis / European Union / food industry / Food quality / Food safety / Free trade / free trade agreement / Genetically altered foods / Genetically modified organisms / global trade / Globalization / Hypotheses / International trade / Investigations / Media coverage / Negotiations / Politics / Qualitative analysis / Quality management / Quality standards / radio / Safety standards / television / Trade agreements