Rob Harrison from the Ethical Consumer joins the FRC for our Food Bites series and explores the current issues in the food system and what civil society organisations and academics could be doing to work towards solutions that address the issues within the food system.

Rob was one of three founder directors of the Ethical Consumer Research Association in 1987. Since that date he has worked as a consultant to NGOs (including Oxfam, Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace) on engaging consumers in their campaigns, as an advisor to government departments (including those in the Belgium, Austria and Brazil) on encouraging the use of ethical consumption and procurement for social and environmental goals, as a consultant to consumer organisations (including groups in Spain and Hungary) on researching the CSR performance of companies, and to companies (including the Co-operative Bank, and Lush Cosmetics) on developing world-leading ethical policies and implementing them in practice.

He has edited and contributed to academic work in this area including the 2005 Sage book ‘The Ethical Consumer’ and the 1997 Routledge ‘Green Building Handbook’. He has also been an editor of Ethical Consumer magazine since its inception in 1989. In addition Rob has spoken widely in the press, on radio and on TV, and also to universities and campaign groups around the world on the importance of facilitating of ethical consumption.