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| Agenda Item 8 | Conference Room Document 20 English only |
FAO/WHO Regional Conference on Food Safety for Asia and the Pacific
Seremban, Malaysia, 24-27 May, 2004
Communicating Food Safety to Consumers
(Industry Council for Development & Asian Food Information Centre)
'Education is the basis of effective and long lasting improvements in food safety' WHO 1984
The importance of food safety education in prevention of food-borne illness is universally recognized. There is general consensus that a knowledge of food safety provides the basis for the development of intervention strategies and initiatives aimed at preventing food-borne illness, at all stages of the food chain - from production of raw commodities, through processing and distribution, right through to the point of consumption.
Of course, content and delivery modes for food safety education must be adapted to fit the very different characteristics of multiple stakeholders involved in this supply chain. This paper is intended to outline the rationale and objectives, which provided direction for content and delivery modes selected for a specific food safety communications and education initiative which targeted consumers. It is hoped that this sharing of experience will provide some useful insight for others with a responsibility for consumer food safety education and communications.
Industry Council for Development (ICD) is a private non-profit corporation granted NGO status with WHO and liaison status with FAO. Since 1992, ICD in association with a number of other institutions and organizations has delivered regional cascade training programme in food safety for nutritionists and other health professionals.
The Asian Food Information Centre (AFIC) is a not-for-profit organization whose remit is to provide science-based, but easily understandable information on nutrition and food safety topics to non-specialists. Specifically, AFIC works to support the most important information-sources for some of Asia's 3 billion resident population, namely mass media and health practitioners and educators.
In 2002, AFIC and ICD embarked on a collaborative project to develop a resource which would emphasize prevention of food borne illness, by providing factual information on prevention measures in laypersons language. The project also benefited from the technical expertise and input of the Regional Asia Pacific Office, Nutrition Division of the UN FAO, and SEAMEO TropMed Nutrition Institute.
The resource was intended not only to provide guidance to consumers on what measures they could take to safeguard their own health, but also to provide guidance on what consumers could, and indeed should expect from the multiple elements of the food supply chain.
Consumers can play a very positive role in efforts to reduce cases of food-borne illness, not only by observing good hygiene practices in their own food handling, but also by expressing demand for improved food safety measures. Strong consumer demand (i.e. 'pull' forces) for effective food safety measures, provides a highly complementary force to the 'push' forces provided by national and international agencies, the food industry, health professionals and others who are working towards improved food safety standards and practices.
A number of surveys, including AFIC's own consumer perception surveys, find that mass media is the most common source of information on nutrition and food safety for lay persons. For example, a survey of consumer perceptions on food safety in 2002, found mass media sources cited as preferred information source almost 50% more frequently than all other sources (such as government departments, medical professionals and agencies) combined.
However, content analysis of consumer information on food safety and prevention of food borne illness available through mass media, indicates very limited consumer education is being delivered through this channel: .
For example, qualitative analysis of media tracked in 2003 found 11% of total media coverage focused on food-borne illness, and approximately 5% on chemical and physical hazards. Less than 10% of these news reports include science-based information on prevention, such as advice on the importance of hand washing, avoiding cross-contamination between cooked and raw foods, correct temperature control, appropriate response on recognition of food products do not meet acceptable standards (eg what to do with products sold after sell-by-date, what sell-by-date means) etc..
In contrast, qualitative analysis of nutrition topics reveals a very different approach. For example, approximately 9% of total food and health media coverage in Asia region tracked by AFIC was devoted to the topic of overweight/obesity, and approximately 7% of total regional food and health coverage addressed the role of diet and lifestyle in the onset and progress of non-communicable chronic degenerative disease, such as heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and hypertension. More than 50% of the reports and features tracked include advice on prevention/reducing risk exposure.
Similarly, a very large proportion of new reports on food safety do not include any reference to actual prevalence or nature of food-borne illness cases but approximately 20% nutrition-themed issues, provide quite detailed information on prevalence and epidemiological trends.
Finally, reporting of strategic actions at national, regional or international level on efforts to reduce food safety risks are noticeably less common, than reports on public health proposals and measures to address some of the most important nutrition and health issues in the Asia region, such as heart disease, high blood pressure, overweight and micronutrient deficiency.
The implicit message that consumers may take from this state of affairs is that food safety is in crisis, and furthermore, mass media provides little evidence that substantial measures to address challenges in food safety are underway.
In the light of the focus by mass media on FBI crises, combined with the very high prevalence of FBI (WHO estimate 1.8-3.1 billion cases of FBI will occur in 2004), it is perhaps not surprising that consumer confidence in safety and quality if the food supply is falling. For example, an Ipsos-Reid reported in Nature and Health magazine April/May 2002 found that the majority of adults in a survey of 18,650 in 34 countries felt that their food was less safe than 10 years ago.
Therefore a resource, intended to fill an information gap on best practice preventive measures, which might in turn contribute to the push-pull dynamic, driving progress in food safety forwards, was developed.
The Highlights of Best Practice resource was developed as a series of short briefing documents each addressing different stages in the farm to table supply chain. Each section has been prepared so that it may be used alone, or in conjunction with other sections of the document. Further additions to the basic package or compendium are planned. For example, explaining the role of Codex, HACCP and other measures and agencies which have responsibility for food safety.
These sections are also intended to complement communications on emerging food safety crisis issues. Food safety crisis issues such as mass food poisoning incidents, or detection of substances potentially harmful to human health, nearly always evolve very rapidly, and those responsible for their communications are required to respond under severe time pressures, incomplete technical information and safety assessments, and in the face of public response which is driven by many factors, some of which are unrelated to the magnitude of risk. This phenomenon, has been described by many risk communication specialists as the 'risk information vacuum' The risk information vacuum is characterised by an absence of adequate information addressing a particular food safety concern, leading to a collective public perception, shaped by a combination of technical information which is poorly understood, and anecdotal comment and interpretation influenced by extrinsic factors, ultimately resulting in misunderstanding and in many instances, magnification of perceived risk.
The Highlights of Best Practice in Prevention of Food Safety aims to pre-empt this scenario by providing non-technical information about preventive measures that are intended to reduce food safety risk or exposure to risk and counteracting some of the characteristics common in risk focused journalism. The Best Practice resource therefore, emphasizes:
The key message of this resource is that consumers can and should take an active role in preventing food-borne illness, by staying informed, and actively seeking and rewarding the best practices and standards, which are recognized to eliminate or significantly reduce food safety risk.
Future evaluation of this resource will test response to this message.
The resource is available electronically via the AFIC website, www.afic.org, and in hard copy by request to AFIC or ICD Secretariat offices.
Committee on Risk Perception and Communication (1989) Improving Risk Communication, National Academy Press, Washington D.C.
AFIC (2002) Report on Consumer Perceptions of Food Biotechnology in Asia, www.afic.org
Embarek P. (2004) Paper presented at 4th Asian Conference on Food and Nutrition Safety, Indonesia.
Buzby J (2003) International Trade and Food Safety – Economic Theory and Case Studies Ag Econ Report No 828, USDA