Policy responses to foodborne disease outbreaks in the United States and Germany

Kelsey D Meagher

doi:10.1007/s10460-021-10243-9

Abstract

This paper explores differences in national responses to foodborne disease outbreaks, addressing both the sources of policy divergence and their implications for public health and coordinated emergency response. It presents findings from a comparative study of two multi-state E. coli outbreaks, one in the United States (2006) and one in Germany (2011), demonstrating important differences in how risk managers understood and responded to each nation’s first major outbreak associated with fresh produce. Drawing on a qualitative analysis of 36 semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders and hundreds of archival documents, this paper traces how social constructions of the E. coli risk interacted with organizational dynamics among state and industry actors to produce divergent policy outcomes: the U.S. outbreak was understood primarily as an agricultural problem that led to an industry-led agricultural solution, whereas the German outbreak was understood as a human disease problem that did not result in a substantial policy response once the acute health crisis passed. The paper concludes by discussing how these policy processes generate partial solutions to foodborne contamination that expose modern societies to systemic vulnerabilities.

Highlights

BMELV Bundesministerium für Ernährung, Landwirtschaft, und Verbraucherschutz (German Federal Ministry for Food, Agriculture, and Consumer Protection)
This paper seeks to improve our understanding of cross-national differences in food safety governance through a comparative analysis of policy responses to two major E. coli outbreaks: the 2006 U.S E. coli outbreak linked to bagged spinach, and the 2011 German E. coli outbreak linked to fenugreek sprouts
This research drew on qualitative interviews, newspaper archives, and official records to trace how regulatory regimes in the U.S and Germany responded so differently to the “new” threat of contaminated produce

Summary

Introduction

BMELV Bundesministerium für Ernährung, Landwirtschaft, und Verbraucherschutz (German Federal Ministry for Food, Agriculture, and Consumer Protection). This paper seeks to improve our understanding of cross-national differences in food safety governance through a comparative analysis of policy responses to two major E. coli outbreaks: the 2006 U.S E. coli outbreak linked to bagged spinach, and the 2011 German E. coli outbreak linked to fenugreek sprouts. These outbreaks represented each nation’s first large-scale outbreak linked to fresh produce, as previous outbreaks had mostly involved meat. Fresh produce is often eaten raw and lacks a “kill step” to neutralize pathogens, so the 2006 and 2011 outbreaks represented a fundamentally new challenge for U.S and German regulatory regimes

Objectives

Results

Conclusion