Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T07:39:20.806Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Effective governance of food safety regulation across EU Member States: Towards operationalization

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 October 2017

Abstract

This article seeks to make a contribution to the food safety regulation literature, and to the broader framework of risk regulation, in the attempt to establish both theoretically and empirically what can be intended as effective governance of food safety regulation. The aim is to review existing measures of effectiveness of food safety governance, and to give a preliminary definition of effectiveness, together with a theoretical perspective on how to operationalise it, eventually proposing an empirical measurement. Effectiveness of food safety governance can be measured – on the one hand – as the capacity of consumers’ protection, and thus, as the minimisation of risk related to food, and – on the other hand – as the capacity of protection of producers’ interests, in order to ensure competitiveness within the market. Distinguishing food safety delivered from food safety perceived, the article seeks to analyse dimensions of effectiveness related to both the protection of consumers and producers, and to the minimisation of risk, drawing upon Elinor Ostrom’s Institutional Analysis and Development Framework (IAD) and, particularly, her conceptualisation of opportunistic behaviour.

Type
Reports
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Levi-Faur, David, “Regulation and regulatory governance” in David Levi-Faur (ed), Handbook of the Politics of Regulation (Edward Elgar, 2011)Google Scholar.

2 Hood, C, Rothstein, H and Baldwin, R, The Government of Risk: Understanding Risk Regulation Regimes (Oxford University Press, 2001)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

3 Ostrom, Elinor, Understanding Institutional Diversity (Princeton University Press, 1995)Google Scholar.

4 Damonte, A, Dunlop, CA and Radaelli, CM, “Controlling bureaucracies with fire-alarms: policy instruments and cross-country patterns” (2014) 21(9) Journal of European Public Policy 1339 Google Scholar.

5 Hood, Rothstein, Baldwin, supra, note 2, 9.

6 Righettini, MS, “Food safety policy between global and local” (2015) 45(2-3) Amministrare 293 Google Scholar.

7 The systematic review included several studies, among which: Le Vallée, JC and Charlebois, S, “Benchmarking Global Food Safety Performances: The Era of Risk Intelligence” (2015) 78(10) Journal of Food Protection 1896 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Garcia Martinez, MG et al, “Food safety performance in European Union accession countries: benchmarking the fresh produce import sector in Hungary” (2006) 22(1) Agribusiness 69 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Kirezieva, K et al, “Assessment of food safety management systems in the global fresh produce chain” (2013) 52(1) Food Research International 230 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Luning, PA et al, “Performance assessment of food safety management systems in animal-based food companies in view of their context characteristics: a European study” (2015) 49 Food Control 11 Google Scholar; Kafetzopoulos, DP et al, “Measuring the effectiveness of the HACCP food safety management system” (2013) 33(2) Food Control 505 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Vladimirov, Z, “Implementation of food safety management system in Bulgaria” (2011) 113 British Food Journal 50 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Fariman, R and Yapp, C, “Compliance with food safety legislation in small and micro-businesses: enforcement as an external motivator” (2004) 3(2) Journal of Environmental Health Research 44 Google Scholar; Herzfeld, T and Jongeneel, R, “Why do farmers behave as they do? Understanding compliance with rural, agricultural, and food attribute standards” (2012) 29 Land Use Policy 250 Google Scholar; Henson, S and Heasman, M, “Food safety regulation and the firm: understanding the compliance process” (1998) 23 Food Policy 9 Google Scholar; Deimel, M et al, “Transparency in food supply chains: empirical results from German pig and diary prodcution” (2008) 8 Journal on Chain and Network Science 21 Google Scholar; Beulens, AJ et al, “Food safety and transparency in food chains and networks: relationships and challenges” (2005) 16(6) Food Control 481 Google Scholar.

8 See Yeung, RM et al, “Food safety risk: consumer perception and purchase behaviour” (2001) 103 British Food Journal 170 CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Grunert, KG, “Food quality and safety: consumer perception and demand” (2005) 32(3) European Review of Agricultural Economics 369 Google Scholar; Naspetti, S and Zanoli, R, Organic Food Quality and Safety Perception Throughout Europe (2009) 15(3) Journal of Food Products Marketing 249 Google Scholar; Harper, GC, Makatouni, A, “Consumer Perception of organic food production and farm animal welfare” (2002) 104 British Food Journal 287 Google Scholar.

9 Special Eurobarometer 354 (2010) Food-related risks, available at <http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_354_en.pdf> accessed 25 August 2017.

10 Flash Eurobarometer 397 (2014) Consumer attitudes towards cross-border trade and consumer protection, available at <http://ec.europa.eu/COMMFrontOffice/publicopinion/index.cfm/Survey/getSurveyDetail/instruments/FLASH/surveyKy/2031> accessed 25 August 2017.