During a recent bout of food poisoning due to the consumption of some expired chicken, I arrived at a fairly common stage: denial of responsibility. Of course it wasn’t my fault for not searching the package for the expiration date, nor was it my boyfriends’ for having kept expired meat in the fridge. Instead, the blame was all on the company for not having stated the expiration date in a more obvious manner.

After I began feeling well, this led to a more interesting question: to what end do companies have a responsibility to label possibly harmful products as such as opposed to consumers having responsibility for knowing the risks they take? 

We are all aware of the various labelling laws as they appear on certain prominent products: packs of cigarettes display disgusting images of rotting lungs and decaying teeth, “greenwashing” of products with the use of ambiguous “green” terms that are not yet defined under advertising laws, and the debate over the labelling of genetically modified foods. Yet, aside from advertisements and packaging that are flat out falsehoods, where is the line drawn between information that is hidden and information that is simply not said due to a lack of space or difficulty of communication?

Consumers call more and more for companies to be forthright and transparent with their products, which I definitely agree with. Nobody enjoys feeling like they’ve been lied to – in the case of a company/consumer relationship, lying only causes buyers remorse. However, I also believe that consumers need to take more responsibility for what they are consuming – if they care about whether or not a product is environmentally friendly, then they should also be willing to take the time to learn what that term really means.

Ultimately, on both sides it should be about a relationship that helps educate both parties and results in both parties making decisions that strengthen that relationship and strengthen the consumers and the companies in it.

“You may say I’m a dreamer

But I’m not the only one

I hope some day you’ll join us

And the world will live as one”