Countering the spread of AMR via consumer behaviour – Playing the AMR card

Global food production contributes to the emergence and spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and antibiotic-resistant genes, which has a major impact on public health.

Antibiotics are used globally in aquaculture, livestock production, and crop cultivation, where antibiotic-resistant bacteria and antibiotic-resistant genes can easily spread in every link of the food production chain, causing untreatable infections in humans.

Consumer advocacy is often seen as a way to push for a more responsible use of antibiotics in global food production where regulations among countries differ and cannot guarantee the same level of safety according to antibiotic use.

The aim is to propose gamification models to educate consumers to become more antimicrobial resistance action-conscious when purchasing food, i.e. increase their willingness and ability to influence their lifestyle and living conditions in a way that includes long-term and sustainable public health.

By proposing co-creative educational approaches for consumers and the grocery trade, the results can generate tools that can be implemented in national and local grocery practices.

This three-year research project is carried out with three sub-studies where we collect data through grocery chains´ sales data, focus groups, and an in-store transformative game.

Our interdisciplinary research group is supplemented by collaboration partners in grocery retail and organizations within the industry.