MANAGING FOOD-RELATED RISKS - INTEGRATING PUBLIC AND SCIENTIFIC JUDGMENTS

There is a legitimate move to open up and to increase public participation in decision-making in many policy areas, including the food sector. In this paper, research is reviewed which identifies public concerns about risk which include physical, psychological, social, political, economic and ethical aspects. The ways in which some government departments incorporate public input into their decision making processes are reviewed. It is suggested that decision analysis could be a useful approach to obtain both public and scientific judgements about the many attributes of food-related risks which would not in any way compromise the science itself. The explicit, non-arbitrary, balanced integration of divergent judgements in such a comprehensive manner to aid in food risk management could ultimately increase consumer confidence in the food supply.