Qualitative assessment of eco-labels on fresh produce in Flanders (Belgium) highlights a potential intention-performance gap for the supply chain

When it comes to making sustainable food purchasing choices, consumers trust on information provided to them by eco-labels. This article studies the labels for fresh produce available to consumers in Flanders (Belgium), concluding that the existing labelling landscape fails at enabling consumers to make adequate decisions for purchasing environmentally sound food. A consumer survey supports the need for additional information on the sustainability of fruits and vegetables. A potential intention-performance gap is found for producers, and in the wider sense, for the entire supply chain. Since current labels found on fresh produce are input or practice based labels, farmers adhering to those labels can be considered as having the intention to produce sustainably. However, this intention alone cannot guarantee good environmental performance. In order to close the potential intention-performance gap for the supply chain and provide more adequate information to consumers, we conclude that performance-based labels, covering the entire food chain of fresh produce, using the life cycle assessment approach (LCA) and including situational parameters such as time of consumption, origin and production and distribution mode, are indispensable.