The purpose of this paper is to analyse which elements of trust are essential in searching for a new international supplier in food supply networks and how these can be applied to e-commerce. To achieve this objective a stepwise approach has been developed with the following phases: 1) identification of the most relevant international food trade flows; 2) categorization of trade relationships along the most relevant trade flows; 3) assessment of significance of traditional trust elements; 4) applications of traditional trust elements to e-commerce.