The Necessity of Risk Communication in the Food Safety Regulation:In the Instance of Mad Cow Disease

The Necessity of Risk Communication in the Food Safety Regulation:In the Instance of Mad Cow Disease

 

Title
The Necessity of Risk Communication in the Food Safety Regulation:In the Instance of Mad Cow Disease
Author
Yao-Ming Hsu , Wei-En Tan
Keywords
Food Safety, Risk Management, Risk Assessment, Risk Communication, Mad Cow Disease
Abstract
The risk communication under the context of food safety emphasizes at the
perspectives of “horizontal communication” and “information exchange” between
the stakeholders. The purpose of that is to regulate the food safety more compactly
and further to fulfill the requirement of deliberative democracy. However, will the
application of risk communication into the food safety management impact the
embedded scientific neutral in the regulation system and thus interfere the agency’s
decision making? Following this question, two controversial issues should be researched:
1. does the application of risk communication truly benefit the food
safety management so that its cruciality to the food safety regulation deserves more
spotlight? On the other hand, 2. does the risk communication only benefit the consumers,
but not the food industry or suppliers; or even increase the administrative
cost unexpectedly?
In this article, we claim that the application of the risk communication can
practically take consumers’ need and their worries into consideration while improving
the food safety regulation and relevant decision making. Moreover, the governance
of the food safety with risk communication fulfills the requirement of accountability
in modern democracy, in which the risk takers understand what they
exactly bear under current food safety law and the pros and cons it brings. Ideally,
if the information in the food system is fully disclosed to the stakeholders, all of the
stakeholders will then be equipped with stronger capability to prevent or take the
underlying risk; which results in a positive effect to the transaction order on the
food market, as well as the achievement of the goal of food safety regulation.
Abstract Article

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