Insights Into Barriers for Sharing Personal Data Related to Food

This report examines what influences citizens’ willingness to share food-related personal data, such as dietary behaviours, purchase histories (including loyalty cards), and perceptions of food safety and origin, and why these matter for healthier and more sustainable food systems. It uses a mixed-method approach, combining literature review with focus group validation in the EU funded project SPOON’s pilot regions Spain, Slovenia, Italy, Germany, Greece, and Belgium. This innovative approach enables triangulation between human experience and scientific research. By integrating insights from existing academic studies with the lived perspectives of participants, it ensures that the data is both evidence-based and grounded in real-world contexts. As a result, the findings gain greater relevance and concreteness, providing a solid foundation to guide SPOON activities moving forward. Key findings show that many people are open to sharing data for research and public benefit, but willingness depends strongly on trust in data handlers, clear purpose, proportional data collection, and meaningful user control (e.g., the ability to view, withdraw, or delete data).