SAFE FOODS work package 4

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SAFE FOODS work package 4

• Reporting back WP4
• October 2007 Lisbon

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Outline

• Case studies
• Delphi
• Russian data analysis
• Risk benefit experiments
• Dissemination activities

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Case studies

• Validate findings of previous empirical work
  against past and emerging food safety incidents
• Semi-structured interviews with consumers
• Two cases per country
• Incident well managed or poorly managed
• Incident involves an emerging risk
• Incident involves risk and benefit trade-offs

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Selected food safety incidents
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Food risk management quality measured with 3-item
scale
Best managed
Worst managed
a, b, c mean values sharing the same letter
within a column are not significantly different
(p0.05)
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Results Yoghurt-Honey (Greece)

• Secret recall of products resulted in
• Strong doubts about the whole system
• Suspicion and distrust in management of other
  food safety incidents
• Vested interests did not allow to inform
  consumers properly
• I did not trust them, and Im afraid that I will
  not trust anyone again.
• Lack of pro-activeness
• They gave the fine as if that was a big deal and
  that was the end of the story. To sit down and
  consider the measures they must take, and say
  this must not happen again Or to appoint
  inspection committees to go out regularly No, I
  dont think that something like that takes place.
  (Consumer, female, Greece)

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Structural model Food risk management quality
Proactive
Opaque
FRM quality
Sceptical
Trust in honesty
Trust in expertise
(?2(2420)8429, plt0.01 RMSEA0.07).
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Discussion 1

• Proof of principles regarding key factors
  influencing consumer evaluation of food risk
  management practices
• Efforts made by authorities to manage the
  incident
• Historical and current efforts have been
  evaluated
• Proactiveness e.g. follow-up information,
  regulatory enforcement
• Open and transparent information (both positive
  and negative) is needed
• Priorities consumer health protection?
• Trustworthiness both perceptions of competence
  and honesty

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Discussion 2

• Communication about risk-benefit trade-offs
• Perception that information provision is
  unbalanced
• Too much emphasis on benefits
• More research needed on risk benefit communication

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Delphi study

• EU and international survey completed
• Some results reported yesterday
• Paper being completed for submission to
  international peer reviewed journal

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Challenges for implementing the SAFE FOODS
framework

• Collection of assessment data
• Integrating data from different impact areas
  (health, environment, social, economic and
  ethical) into the framework
• New methods needed
• Timing
• Demonstrating that the framework can operate
  within an acceptable time frame crisis
  responsiveness
• Deciding when to apply the framework
• Internationalisation
• Interface with other regulatory frameworks and
  external dimensions (eg impact on trading
  partners and developing countries)
• International harmonisation (e.g. codex)

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Preliminary results Russian data analysis

• Focus groups similar patterns to EU experts and
  consumers
• Feasability of harmonisation of risk management
  practices?
• Survey currently being analysed using SEM
  (structural equation modelling)

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Risk/benefit communication experiments

• Aim
• To study the role of risk-benefit information
  and prior attitude valence and strength on
  consumer risk-benefit evaluations.
• Hypotheses
• Asymmetric impact of prior attitude on risk and
  benefit perceptions
• Asymmetric impact of information on risk and
  benefit perceptions

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Risk/benefit communication experiments

• Test against a range of food production
  technologies
• Nanotechnology
• GM
• Organic
• Conventional

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Dissemination

• Refereed papers
• Van Kleef et al. (ready to be submitted). Food
  risk management quality consumer evaluations of
  past and emerging food safety incidents
• Heleen van Dijk, Julie Houghton, Ellen van
  Kleef, Ivo van der Lans, Gene Rowe, Lynn Frewer
  (in press). Consumer responses to communication
  about food risk management. Appetite.
• Van Kleef, E., Houghton, J.R., Krystallis, A.,
  Pfenning, U., Rowe, G., Van Dijk, H. and Frewer,
  L.J. (Risk Analysis), Consumers evaluations of
  food risk management quality in Europe. In press
• Van Kleef, E, Frewer, L.J. Chryssochoidis,G.M.,
  Houghton, J.R., Korzen-Bohr, S., Krystallis, T.,
  Lassen, J., Pfenning, U. and Rowe, G. (2006).
  Perceptions of food risk management among key
  stakeholders results from a cross-European
  study. Appetite, 47(1), 46-63.
• Houghton, J.R., Van Kleef, E., Rowe, G. and
  Frewer, L.J. (2006). Perceptions of food risk
  management a cross-cultural study. Health Risk
  Society, 8(2), 165-183.
• Krystallis, T., Frewer, L.J., Rowe, G., Houghton,
  J.R., Kehagia, O. and Perrea, T. (). A perceptual
  divide? Consumer and expert attitudes to food
  risk management in Europe.
• Houghton, J.R, Rowe, G., Frewer, L.J., Van Kleef,
  E., Chryssochoidis, G., Kehagia, O., Korzen-Bohr,
  S., Lassen, J., Pfenning, U. and Strada, A. (in
  press). The Quality of Food Risk Management in
  Europe Perspectives and Priorities. Food Policy.
• Walls, J., Rowe, G., Frewer, L. J. (submitted).
  Stakeholder engagement in food risk management
  Evaluation of an iterated workshop approach.

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Dissemination

• Conference proceedings
• Kleef, E. van Dijk, H. van Houghton, J.R.
  Krystallis, T. Pfenning, U. Rowe, G.
  Theodoridis, G. Ueland, O Frewer, L.J.
  (2007)Consumer evaluations of food risk
  management practices in EuropeIn Subjective
  Probability, Utility and Decision Making 21
  Conference (SPUDM 21). - Warsaw, Poland - p.
  144 - 144.
• Ellen van Kleef, Heleen van Dijk, Julie Houghton,
  Athanasios Krystallis, Uwe Pfenning, Gene Rowe,
  Gregory Theodoridis, Øydis Ueland, Lynn Frewer.
  Society of Risk Analysis-Europe (SRA-Europe),
  16th Annual Conference. Building bridges issues
  for future risk research. The Hague, the
  Netherlands (June 2007). Food risk management
  quality consumer evaluations of past and
  emerging food safety incidents (accepted).
• Ellen van Kleef, Lynn J. Frewer en WP4 van het
  SAFE FOODS consortium. Network for Food Experts
  (NVVL) conference on Hoe gezond is
  voedsel-veiligheid?. Wageningen, The
  Netherlands, December 14, 2006. Consumenten en
  expert opvattingen van voedselveiligheid
  management een kwalitatief onderzoek in vijf
  Europese landen (in Dutch). pp. 50-55.
• Ellen van Kleef, Lynn Frewer and Arnout Fischer.
  Food Safety Network Communicators Conference,
  University of Guelph, Canada, June 12-13, 2006.
  Getting the word out Are we communicating
  effectively? A food safety communicators
  conference. Society and Risk Analysis, pp. 7-8.
  http//www.foodsafetynetwork.ca/articles/947/Confe
  rence_proceedings.pdf
• Chapters in scientific books
• Lynn Frewer, Janneke de Jonge, Ellen van Kleef
  (in press). Consumer perceptions of food safety.
  Encyclopaedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS)

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Dissemination

• Conferences
• (2007) Food safety seminar Tokyo
• (2007) Sao Paulo IAEA workshop
• (2007) SRA Europe consumer reactions to
  communication about food risk management
• (2007) Special session SRA Europe
• (2007) Presentation to food safety commission
  Japan
• (2007) Presentation Delphi results Beneris
  workshop Berlin
• (2006) Poster presentation Orlando US Risk
  Analysis conference
• (2006) Valdor conference Stockholm. May 17
• (2006) Food Safety Network Communicators
  Conference, University of Guelph, Canada, June
  12-13.
• (2006). Risk communication and food safety.
  Plenary, Codex Alimentarius seminar, The Hague,
  27th April.
• (2006) Dies day lecture, (anniversary lecture)
  University of Wageningen. A small bit new
  technology. Implications for consumers and the
  future. 9th March 2006.
• (2006). Integrated approaches to food risk
  analysis. NATO seminar, Brussels. (23rd
  January).
• (2006). Factors influencing healthy food choices,
  Health foods seminar, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
• (2006). Consumer perceptions of risk and safety.
  Norwegian Fisheries research Institute, Tromsoe.
  (28th January)
• (2005). EU-RAIN conference Dublin Risk
  communication and the consumer. December 1.
• (2005) Realistic consumer attitudes to GMOs. Food
  Safey Seminar, Paris (1st December)
• (2005). Baby food and Risk perception . Baby food
  seminar, Wageningen (29th November).
• (2005). Consumers and Food Safety . International
  seminar, Alberta, Canada (21st September)

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Thank you!