Abstract:

Public procurement represents a noticeable proportion of the total consumption of food in society and ethical concerns are increasingly being raised among citizens and politicians. The present study has evaluated the ethical matrix with regard to its ability to aid decision makers in making ethically informed judgements and taking ethical considerations into account in public procurement of food. We present the results of case studies in which small mixed groups of politicians and officials from Swedish municipalities have applied the ethical matrix to a particular procurement issue (e.g. organic vs conventionally produced meat). Whereas both groups were in general positive to the use of the tool in the seminars, politicians were less positive regarding the usefulness of the matrix as a tool for political decision-making. Both groups emphasized that, on a municipality level, the most likely use of the matrix lie in the early stages of policy work to arrive at a common platform within working groups and also at a stage after decision-making in communication with citizens.