Reconceptualizing the US strategic food safety system Chao-shih Wang and David D. Van Fleet Arizona State University, Mesa, Arizona, USA Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce an innovative communicative platform to be constructed to facilitate food hazard communications as new policy initiatives shift the direction of food safety management from reaction to prevention. Design/methodology/approach – Literature from economics and management is examined for concepts that would yield potential solutions to accomplish the purpose. Findings – An innovative synthesis of four interrelated structural elements – resource, identity, standard, and knowledge – is proposed as the framework for hazard communication. Practical implications – Exchanges of food hazard knowledge and information among diverse stakeholders (consumers, suppliers, public agencies) in a complex environment requires an information architecture, a “knowledge warehouse,” that explicitly organizes interactive elements in social networks to facilitate knowledge communication among those stakeholders. Social implications – Social networks facilitated by new communication technologies drive cooperation, consumer interactions, and improved coordination with more efficient regulatory intervention to assure food safety. Originality/value – Drawing upon the management literature and merging it with concepts from economics yields unique perspectives, creating value, and contributing to a more effective and efficient market-based food safety system. Keywords Food safety, Social networks, Consumer protection, Knowledge warehouse, Strategic inspection, Hazard communication, Constructive engagement Paper type Conceptual paper Introduction Food safety is vital for consumer protection and is among the top public policy agendas (Wheelock, 1989). In the agro-food system, innovation in food safety can be viewed as a collaborative learning activity involving a network of actors interacting for the application and generation of technological or non-technological knowledge (Caiazza et al., 2014). In this conceptualization, all stakeholders can be innovative agents. Although individual stakeholders may not have sufficient knowledge or motivation to make a significant impact, by functioning as a coherent group, under a suitable task environment they may collaborate and cooperate for common goals, partaking in a joint venture that transforms the complex agro-food system into visible and articulated value chains. A broader base of stakeholder involvement points out an alternative approach to the current food safety system which commonly resorts to centralized control and inspections. The development of information and communication technologies enables and facilitates such organizational innovation. Efforts to assure a safe food supply have generally focussed on governmental regulation of elements of the supply chain (Mensah and Julien, 2011). In 2009, however, the USA advocated a new direction for its food safety system – a public health-focussed approach – that moves food safety to a public concern rather than solely or even predominantly a government concern. With a vision of bringing together consumers, organizations, and regulators to build a transparent food safety system, the Food Safety Working Group suggested an approach that would lead to a freedom-from-fear British Food Journal Vol. 118 No. 5, 2016 pp. 1208-1224 © Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0007-070X DOI 10.1108/BFJ-10-2015-0355 Received 8 October 2015 Revised 5 February 2016 Accepted 6 February 2016 The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: www.emeraldinsight.com/0007-070X.htm 1208 BFJ 118,5