Certification and Quality Signals in the Aquaculture Sector in France (Thalassorama) (Report‪)‬

Introduction Increased globalization of food trade has created considerable concern among consumers regarding the quality of the products they purchase. There is sometimes a natural tendency to assume domestic food products are of better quality than goods produced by other nations, especially when this perception is associated with a traditional know-how that is valued in that country or region (Sylvander, Barjolle, and Arfini 2000). Food industries have often addressed this concern by providing consumers with country-of-origin labels, or at a minimum, informing consumers that the food is domestically produced. Practices such as these, by default, also segment the market by differentiating the food products. The segmented markets may be divided along demographic lines based on income or education, or may be divided by consumer perceptions, as mentioned above. While consumer concern for quality may drive labeling programs, producers also see these programs as a means to address increased competition. In some cases, the competition need not come from other nations, but from other regions of the same country. Furthermore, food labeling can be used to differentiate similar products by production process. An example of product differentiation that is based on production process among food products is organic vegetables, compared to traditionally produced vegetables. One might reasonably wonder whether labeling programs are effective, either as a signal of quality to the consumer, or as a means to segment the market. This paper will reflect on the use of labels for aquaculture products in the French seafood market and attempt to identify the effectiveness of the labels.