Food Safety

Food-Related Risk Perception and Communication

In line with research in other risk domains, research into risk perception and communication in the area of food safety initially focused on understanding why laypersons' risk perceptions differed from “expert” risk assessments and the implications of the results of this research for the development of effective risk communication. In terms of perception, the extent to which a potential food risk is perceived to be unnatural or potentially catastrophic or to which an individual perceives exposure to be involuntary increases their risk perceptions. These psychological dimensions are reliable predictors of people's responses to potential risks associated with different foods and have been shown to systematically vary across different types of food hazards. In addition, individual differences in consumer perceptions of, and responses to, food hazards, as well as communication about the associated risks, have also been a focus of empirical investigation. For example, risk perceptions, food safety related behaviors, consumer responses to food safety incidents, and consumer use of information may be dependent on the consumer's own personality characteristics as well as other hazard-related variables.

Another concept that has been extensively studied in relation to consumer perceptions of food safety is the concept of trust in food risk communication. Research in this area also has implications for the practice of food risk management. The influence of specific food safety incidents on consumer risk perceptions and behavior (for example, in a crisis context) may also influence the effectiveness of risk communication practices. For example, people may respond negatively to a message from an information source that has mishandled a food safety incident in the past or failed to convey accurate information that takes into account both technical risk estimates and consumer concerns.

Cultural and historical variation in both consumer perceptions of food risks and trust in local [Page 306]and international regulatory institutions, across different geographical regions and within different social contexts, implies consumer responses to information about food safety may be prone to cross-cultural differences. Individual differences in consumer evaluations of risks (for example, the extent to which an individual perceives that he or she has control over his or her own health status through, in this case, making safe or otherwise healthy food choices) may also be influential determinants of consumer responses to communication.

...