Motives towards traceable food choice: A comparison between French and Italian consumers

• A positive attitude towards traceable food was detected in France and Italy.
• Intention to buy traceable chicken is higher compared to traceable honey.
• Trust and attitude are the main drivers of behavioural intentions.
• Habits, trust, past behaviour and socio-demographics increase prediction of TPB.
• Differences were found between countries and products.

Food traceability standards aim to reduce the risk of food-borne disease by facilitating the withdrawal of food and feed products and to provide consumers with targeted information. This paper analyses consumers' attitude and behaviour towards traceable food in two different European countries: Italy and France. A survey has been conducted on two samples of Italian (n = 503) and French (n = 501) consumers, aiming to explain the intention toward purchasing traceable food using the theory of planned behaviour (TPB). The predictive power of the TPB model significantly increases in both countries when new variables are added: habits, trust, past behaviour and socio-demographics. The results show that attitudes drive the intention to purchase traceable chicken and honey in France. Trust affects the intention to purchase traceable chicken and honey in Italy. These findings may serve to target public interventions and private strategies towards food traceability.