Towards an integrated approach to disaster management and food safety governance

Abstract

The paper begins with a description of Canadian food safety institutions and follows with an overview of basic models of governance. A leading food safety governance model, emphasizing risk communication and public participation, and a normative version of the disaster management cycle are then highlighted. In recent years, thinking in disaster management and food safety governance has placed increased emphasis on deliberation and dialogue, denoting greater inclusiveness and influence of stakeholders in risk communication and government decision making. And while disaster management and food safety governance bear important similarities, they are mostly viewed as stand-alone systems. The 2008 Canadian listeriosis crisis spurred our interest in developing a simplified, and yet more broadly encapsulating, food safety model. Exploring the intersection between the essential components of the disaster management cycle with those of a leading food safety governance framework permitted us to develop a more comprehensive and integrative conceptual framework. Keeping the essential components, we offer a revised, integrative framework to bridge the gap between disaster management and food safety governance. This framework has positive implications for public participation and risk communication. It could serve to strengthen food safety decision making by consolidating the spectra within which public participation and risk communication are undertaken. In particular, the framework streamlines the management phase of food safety governance with the mitigation phase of the disaster management cycle, allowing deliberative risk communication actions to mitigate potential food safety disasters and enabling governance actors to consider a broader range of food safety issues.