1 Food safety & consumers: constructions of choice & risk A.K. Draper Centre for Public Health Nutrition University of Westminster 13 th November, 2006 Food safety and consumers: Aims: 1. To present some empirical data on how people construct and manage food-related risks, particularly in relation to BSE 2. But to set this within a broader historical and policy context 3. And so examine the differing ways in which risk and choice have been framed Food safety and consumers Outline: 1. The rise, fall and rise of food safety as a public problem 2. Constructing the public – consumers or citizens? 3. How people actually construct and manage food- related risk 4. Conclusions Food safety and consumers: 1) The rise, fall and rise of food safety • Historically food safety has had a fluctuating profile as an object of public and policy concern • Over the last c.200y it has risen, fallen and then risen again as an issue of public and policy concern • There have also been significant shifts in the types of risk associated with food