Allocating Responsibility and Costs for Food Safety and Food Defense: Government Versus Food Processors and Manufacturers

PurposeContaminated food is a major source of illnesses around the world. This research seeks to learn how people assign responsibility for two food contamination risks and how they allocate costs to reduce these risks to four members of the food supply chain. The aims are to identify differences between countries and test options to control for cultural differences.Design/methodology/approachA random sample of online panellists from six countries (N = 6,090) was surveyed on how they assigned responsibility for controlling natural and accidental food contamination (traditional food safety) and for controlling intentional contamination (food defense) to farmers, transporters/distributors, retailer grocery stores/restaurants and consumers. They were also asked how they would allocate food safety and defense costs to the four groups. Differences between countries were tested with dummy variables and cultural measures.FindingsIn nearly every country, respondents assigned the least responsibility and allocated the smallest cost shares to consumers. In multivariate models, responsibility and cost-share results differed, suggesting that preferences varied by country and that respondents did not allocate costs the same way they assessed responsibility. The food safety and defense models also differed, implying that the respondents believed the two sources of contamination represented different risks.Originality/valueThis is the first study to examine how adults allocate the responsibility and costs for food safety and defense to farmers, transporters/distributors, retailer grocery stores/restaurants and consumers. Other research did not differentiate between these two food risks. This study also compared Hofstede's cultural measures with the recently developed Minkov's cultural measures.

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Food Defense – do conceito às atuais exigências do mercado internacional

Research Society and Development ◽

10.33448/rsd-v10i17.24175 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 10 (17) ◽

pp. e201101724175

Author(s):

Elaine Leão Inácio de Melo Andrade ◽

Gilberto Carvalho de Oliveira ◽

Otniel Freitas Silva

Keyword(s):

Food Security ◽

Food Safety ◽

Drug Administration ◽

Food Quality ◽

Web Of Science ◽

Food And Drug Administration ◽

Food Fraud ◽

Food Defense ◽

Safety Systems

O conceito food defense emergiu nos EUA como resposta aos atentados terroristas do 11 de Setembro, em 2001. A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) e outras agências desenvolveram medidas para proteger a cadeia alimentar do país aos ataques maliciosos. O objetivo consistia em adotar medidas preventivas da contaminação intencional da água e alimentos, onde indivíduos recorrem a agentes (biológicos, químicos ou físicos) com o intuito de causar prejuízos às organizações, governos ou à população. A vulnerabilidade da cadeia alimentar propiciou a difusão deste conceito através de normas certificáveis como: International Featured Standards (IFS), British Retail Consortium (BRC) e Food Safety Systems Certification (FSSC 22000). Este estudo tem como objetivo a emergência do conceito food defense (defesa alimentar), junto aos termos já conhecidos: food quality (qualidade alimentar), food safety (segurança alimentar), food security (acessibilidade alimentar) e food fraud (fraude alimentar), através das regulamentações, leis, metodologias e ferramentas para implementação de food defense nas cadeias de produção e distribuição de alimentos de empresas exportadoras até empresas familiares. Metodologia: análise qualitativa através de pesquisa bibliográfica nas bases Scopus, Web of Science e SciELO. Espera-se que os resultados deste estudo despertem a necessidade de formar profissionais da área de alimentos conhecedores do conceito food defense, e que orientem a adoção de medidas conceituais e práticas que previnam e controlem a contaminação intencional de alimentos, de forma a atender às exigências dos mercados consumidores e às normas e legislações vigentes pertinentes à qualidade e segurança dos alimentos.

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