World Food Policy Volume 2, Number 1, Spring 2015 | Page 53

World Food Policy - Volume 2, Number 1 - Spring 2015

The Role of Proximity and Standards in Guaranteeing
Vegetable Safety in Vietnam1
Paule MoustierA & Nguyen Thi Tan LocB
In Asia, the growth of purchasing power, especially in cities, come together with
rising consumers’ concerns for food safety. We investigate two mechanisms
of food safety assurance, i.e., proximity (between farmers and consumers),
and certification based on standards. The literature suggests the following
hypotheses: (i) proximity in food chains comes together with low farmers’ cost
for quality assurance, but also limited scope of operation; and (ii) “abstract”
expertise systems that form the basis of standardization imply high costs
at the expense of inclusion of small-scale farmers, but enable large scope of
operation; the impact on consumers’ trust is controversial. The paper is
a preliminary attempt to test these hypotheses on the situation of vegetable
safety assurance in Northern Vietnam. The authors’ fieldwork brings to the
fore a variety of standards and quality assurance systems: safe vegetable
certification by the Plant Protection Department, based on—quite lax—
public standards and control; it is in some cases supplemented by internal
control systems; VietGap and AseanGaps based on good agricultural practices
and HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point); and participatory
guarantee systems (PGSs) for organic vegetables. The hypotheses are partly
confirmed. One interesting outcome relates to the combination of systems
based on relational proximity, expert systems, and labeling on the origin of
vegetables as enhancing consumers’ trust and farmers’ commitments. The
paper concludes with recommendations in terms of policy and research.
Keywords: Food safety assurance, standards, proximity, vegetables, Vietnam

Introduction

on standards. We will first present the
growing concern of consumers for food
safety in general and in Southeast Asia
more particularly. We will then review
the literature on interpersonal trust
and expert systems as quality assurance
devices with their respective strengths

T

he paper deals with the comparison
of two major ways to increase
consumers’ reassurance about the
safety of food: interpersonal trust and
expert systems of quality control based
A

CIRAD, UMR MOISA, Montpellier, F-34398, France
FAVRI, Trau Quy, Hanoi, Vietnam
1
A preliminary version was published as: Moustier, P. 2013. Reengaging with Customers: Proximity Is
Essential but Not Enough, In: Acta Horticulturae, 1006:17-33.
B

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