Recent food scares have highlighted the weaknesses of the current ways of controlling risk especially in the face of uncertainty. An over-reliance on science without acknowledging its limitations has meant that the publics attitudes and preferences have not been considered early enough in the process. Judgements about the balance between consumer choice, on the one hand, and safety on the other, and therefore the legitimate role for government regulation, will only be socially acceptable if the public are involved from the outset. The time has come for a new approach to risk decisions and therefore, food regulation. Foods that once graced our shelves for a brief season, if at all, are now available all year round and many have a longer shelf-life than ever before.
New techniques hold the promise of still greater abundance and quality.
Yet at the same time, food safety scares have rarely been out of the news and reported cases of food poisoning have risen. The situation is complicated further by the increasingly global nature of our food supply. We are now far more removed from the origins of our food and reliant on a complex network of players that have responsibilities at various stages in the food chain. Similarly, we are more dependant on the information that manufacturers and retailers provide about the food we are eating, as well as on the controls put in place to ensure food safety. These developments serve to highlight the difficult balancing act which those who seek to ensure food safety have to perform.