**1. Introduction**

Food traceability, defined as the possibility to trace back the history of a food product, is a very important process from the point of view of ensuring food safety for consumers all over the world. The safety of produced food can be maintained only when full traceability of raw materials, semi-finished products, and processes are ensured on all stages of the food chain [1–5]. Adequate organization of the market of food products is difficult considering the size of the market and the strict legal requirements in force. Despite stringent control of the market by authorized control units, every week the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) registers several dozen alerts in Europe, regarding food launched in the market that has been labeled dangerous for human life and health (RASFF was introduced by means of EC regulation No. 178/2002 of the European Parliament and the Council on 29 January 2002).

The literature on food safety presents different definitions of the term "traceability" [6]. The term originally appeared back in 1996 in the international ISO 8402 standard concerning quality managemen<sup>t</sup> and quality assurance. According to the definition in the standard, traceability stands for the ability to trace the history, application, or location of a unit by way of an analysis of records allowing its identification [7]. The publication by Moe (1998) entitled "Perspectives on Traceability in Food Manufacture" contains a wider definition stating that traceability stands for the ability to trace a batch of products and its history throughout the entire production chain or part of it, from harvesting through to transport, storage, processing, distribution, and sales (this is known as the traceability chain) or internally—in a single step of the production chain (this is known as the internal traceability chain) [8]. According to the E fficient Consumer Response (ECR) strategy enforced in 2004, the essence of traceability lies in the possibility of monitoring the handling and origin of a reference product (production batch) in each stage of the supply chain, by all companies in the food sector (ECR Europe 2004). The ECR integrates producers, suppliers, and sellers in the supply chain to build a cost-e ffective system which responds to specific needs of a consumer; consequently, the total cost of the system and stock level are reduced with a simultaneous increase in value for the end customer [9]. Identification is an intrinsic element of traceability, determining its success in relation to tracing the history of products [10]. Schwagele defines traceability through the concept of identification and states that identification enables the acquisition of data from a previous stage of the chain (what was received and from whom) and the provision of information for the following stage (what was sent and to whom) [11]. In the opinion of Rabade and Alfaro, traceability stands for the registration and tracing of processes and materials used in production [12]. A definition of the concept of traceability can also be found in the first international standard—ISO 22005 of 2007—applying to food safety managemen<sup>t</sup> in the context of tracing its history. The standard contains the following definition: "traceability stands for the ability to trace the flow (movement) of feed or food through specific production stage(s), processing and distribution; movement can refer to the origin of materials (raw materials), history of processing and distribution of feed or food" [13,14].

Gradually more attention was paid to scientific research carried out not only in Europe but also globally on the consumers' perception of food origin tracing. Recently such research was conducted in China [15], Japan [16], and Brazil [17]. The general conclusion from the research, which either applies to a particular country or compares the issue of consumers' approach to food traceability in di fferent countries [18], is that consumers want information regarding where a product comes from, what production methods were used, whether production was certified, and if information on the packaging is complete and reliable [19,20]. Consumers have become highly concerned about the safety of their food and so the speed of obtaining information about contamination and diseases transmitted by food, e ffective risk management, and e fficient managemen<sup>t</sup> of non-compliant products' withdrawal from the market, have become more important [21]. Consumers' concerns about food safety are also related to genetic modification of food [22]. In order to face the challenge of an increasingly demanding process of food product traceability, China uses extensive and advanced food origin tracing methods based on DNA [23], whereas in reference to food origin tracing management, an additional consumer fee, called WTP (Willingness To Pay), is used for information about the food [24].

Regulation No. 178/2002 issued in January 2002, sets out the general rules and requirements of food law; the establishment of the European Food Safety Authority and procedures concerning food safety are fundamental for the food laws of communities (including Poland, on which the research was based). Article 18 of the Regulation obliges all EU member states to establish and implement traceability procedures as of 1 January 2005. The core of traceability is in tracing the path of a finished product "forwards" and "backwards" [25]. Backward traceability helps to identify the cause and sources of a hazard (e.g., via data by the producer or number of product batches). Forward traceability involves withdrawing a finished product from the market owing to identification of the location where a non-compliant batch was delivered. The trade quality of products in Poland is supervised by two bodies: the Trade Inspectorate (retail) and the Inspectorate for Trade Quality of Agricultural and Food Products (producers). Moreover, in the food supply chain, there is no continuous exchange of information about the course of each measure taken by subsequent actors, which impairs the traceability of products. The growth of a company in the food sector and the adaptation of the internal and external traceability system to ensure food safety, are possible if the traceability system is treated as a subsystem whose presence is necessary to manage product quality [26,27]. This is because traceability is indispensable to ensuring the quality of production and the product itself [28].

This study's research problem, formulated based on the subject literature review, is expressed as a research question, the answers to which are the paper's objective. The research question is as follows: "Do the variables which characterize consumers of food products in Poland, including gender, age, education and financial status, a ffect the aspects related to food traceability, such as identification of the producer, importance of food product features when shopping, importance of the information given on food product packaging and influence of the shopping place and frequency on tracing the food origin?".

The validity of the research issue to be verified is justified by the fact that under current globalization-based economic conditions, food origin is of paramount importance. Consumers in highly developed and developing countries have a wide variety of food product criteria (including origin) to choose from [29]. Observations of consumer behavior revealed that people want to know more about the food they buy. Knowledge of the food origin, and as a conscious choice in this respect, contributes to the consumer's self-assurance about food safety [30–33]. The issue of the requirements that particular consumer groups establish for particular food products is also very important for food producers and developers of production-related processes. Clients' requirements are the key requirements to be faced by producers because a consumer is the key stakeholder for a conscious producer [34].

In order to assign a quantitative dimension to the research issue, which can be confirmed by statistical indicators, four research hypotheses were formulated and verified in the study:


The presented hypotheses determined the use of the following study methods.
