This book offers a practical guide to the most pressing ethical issues faced by those working in food manufacturing and associated industries. Early chapters look at the fundamentals of ethical thinking and how lessons of medical ethics might be applied to the food industry. The book then addresses some issues specifically relevant to the food industry, including treatment of animals; the use of genetically modified organisms; food product advertising; health claims and sustainability. Several further chapters present case studies which show how ethical thinking can be applied in real life examples.

This volume should be on the desk of every food industry professional responsible for important decisions about science, marketing, resources, sustainability, the environment and people.

Dr J. Peter Clark
is Consultant to the Process Industries and Contributing Editor: Food Technology magazine (IFT), Oak Park, Illinois, USA

Christopher Ritson
is Emeritus Professor of Agricultural Marketing at the Centre for Rural Economy, School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Newcastle University, UK

Contributors ix

Preface xi

PART I PRINCIPLES

1 Fundamentals of ethics: the use of virtues 3
Edmund G. Seebauer

2 Lessons from medical ethics 21
Thomas A. Nairn

3 Ethical principles and the ethical matrix 39
Ben Mepham

4 An East Asian perspective on food ethics: implications for childhood obesity in mainland China 57
Vinh Sum Chau

PART II ISSUES IN FOOD INDUSTRY ETHICS

5 Ethics in business 77
Timothy F. Bednarz

6 Ethics in publishing/reporting food science and technology research 93
Daryl Lund

7 Humane treatment of livestock 101
Temple Grandin

8 Sustainable food production and consumption 117
Jeanette Longfield

9 Good or bad foods? Responsible health and nutrition claims in Europe 135
Sue Davies

10 Worker exploitation in food production and service 153
Charlie Clutterbuck

PART III EXAMPLES AND CASE STUDIES

11 Ethical practices in the workplace 173
J. Peter Clark

12 Ethical thinking and practice 189
Louis B. Clark

13 The fair trade movement 203
Richard Norman

14 A serious case: the Peanut Corporation of America 221
Mark F. Clark

15 Ethical aspects of nanotechnology in the area of food and food manufacturing 239
Herbert J. Buckenhuskes

16 Food commodity speculation – an ethical perspective 247
Chris Sutton

PART IV CONCLUSION

17 Reflections on food ethics 265
Christopher Ritson

Index 277