7. Communication - not for exam just for case

Why is risk communication important?

• Consumers are an important stakeholder/group

• They have relatively little expertise in food safety

• Yet, both food and safety are key in people’s daily lives.

What is riks expert vs consumer

Expert view:

• The chance of injury, damage or loss (taking into account severity and probability)

• Objective, real risk, identified through scientific research & systematic procedures

Traditional:

• subjective, emotional, irrational, hampered by lack of knowledge

• To be amended by communication of expert knowledge (education)

What do people use to assess risk?

• Television, on a TV set or via the internet

• Exchanges with family, friends, neighbours or colleagues

• Internet search engine

• etc.

Goals of communication about risks associated with food

• To educate the public about safe food handling and healthy diets

• Avoid ‘unnecessary’ food scares

• To encourage people to accept technological advances

Knowledge/information deficit model

• Information will lead to change

• If the public does not agree with an expert message, it means they don’t understand it

  • Therefore we should focus on the spreading knowledge.

Public vs expert risk rating

• Experts perceive less risks in food than consumers

Why do lay people judge risks higher than experts?

• Expert judgments: their estimates correlated highly with technical estimates of annual fatality rates

• Laypeople asked to use the ‘fatality’ data come up with almost similar estimates

• Lay people are capable of judging risk correctly if they are provided with the information.

• However fatality rates are not the only way to judge risk

What are the two main risk dimensions among non-experts?

1. Unknown factor

2. Dread factors

Unknown factors - risk dimensions

People evaluate risk depending upon when the risk is:

• Observable/unobservable: mold vs toxin

• Known to those exposed/unknown

• Effect immediate/delayed

• Risks known to science/unkown

• Naturalness: coloring

Dread factors—risk dimensions

People assess the risk according to various factors:

• Control: pilot vs passenger

• Catastrophic: bike vs plane accident

• Low vs. high risk for future generations

• Exposure easy vs. difficult to reduce

• Risks are decreasing/risks increasing over time

• Voluntary exposure: snowboarding vs crime

• Fatality

Less concerned if controllable and not catastrophic

Think of food scandals, major outbreaks