The Horse Meat Scandal - A Question of Trust

The discovery of horse meat - disguised as beef - in burgers and lasagnes has kicked off a crisis which illustrates lot of key business studies concepts. At the heart of the issue is trust. Can consumers trust what retailers sell to them? From the consumer perspective, if a product is labelled "Beef Lasagne", is it too much to ask that the ingredients for the lasagne include beef rather than horse or donkey?From the retailers perspective, can they trust that the products they source from their supply chains are as described? What checks and controls do they need to have in place to ensure that suppliers deliver what they promise?Lots of other concepts are relevant to the developing story. For example, what contingency planning is in place to deal with the media storm and consumer reaction to further revelations.In this video, the FT's Hannah Kuchler reports on how food companies now have to rebuild trust, without pushing prices too high.