Risk Communication Applied to Food Safety Handbook

"The main goal of food safety risk communication is to increase understanding among various food safety stakeholders regarding the rationale behind the decisions taken to assess hazards and manage food safety risks, and to help people to make more informed judgements about the food safety hazards and risks they face in their lives....As the use of the Internet and social media technologies increases in both developed and developing countries, the public's demand for greater transparency and more salient food safety risk information can be expected."

The purpose of this handbook is to support national food safety authorities and food chain stakeholders in establishing or enhancing risk communication practice and capacity in the food safety sector. From the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO), this document aims to help decision-makers and risk managers within governments fulfill their obligation to:

• ensure effective risk communication with interested parties when developing scientific and technical analyses;
• involve the public and other stakeholders when appropriate in the risk analysis process; and
• understand and respond to the factors driving public concerns about health risks (FAO/WHO, 1998), as well as technical risk assessments.

This handbook focuses on practical principles and best practices of risk communication to support risk management of adverse food safety (including quality) events associated with biological, chemical, or physical hazards. Another focus is on the use of risk communication in the process of risk analysis to manage both food safety emergencies (e.g., outbreaks of food-borne illness) and non-emergency or more enduring food safety issues (e.g., food safety and health promotion campaigns). Food defence and nutritional aspects are outside the handbook's scope, as are radiological hazards.

The handbook was developed using a participatory and technical approach designed and coordinated by FAO in collaboration with WHO. The specialists selected represent different food safety stakeholder groups (national governments, regional organisations, industry, consumers and academia) and regions. The development process included a physical 4-day meeting (in Rome, August 2013). The handbook draft was pre-tested at the FAO regional workshop on Enhancing Risk Communication Capacity in Food Safety, organised in collaboration with WHO, in Budapest, Hungary (June 2014). The post-workshop version of the handbook was reviewed by external reviewers who were selected on the basis of referrals from the workshop participants. The aim was to develop a handbook that is useful for a wide range of countries and regions, with the main focus on the needs of low- and middle-income countries.

There are 4 technical chapters in this handbook. It begins with a broad overview of the key goals and concepts of risk communication (Chapter 1). This chapter takes considerable space to explain risk communication – the idea, the role, the relevance. The second chapter describes the importance of trust for effective risk communication and introduces the principles of good risk communication and the importance of planning for effective risk communication. The last 2 chapters discuss key considerations for communicating food safety risks (Chapter 3, which sets out what analysis should be done before a food safety threat emerges) and provide additional details on "how to do" risk communication under real-life conditions (Chapter 4). Throughout the handbook, tips are provided, and examples from different regions and food safety issues are described to illustrate principles and practices of effective food safety risk communication. Case studies are presented; the material can be reused and recycled in workshop and training efforts. Key source references that were used for developing each of the chapters are provided at the end of the appropriate chapter. The document also highlights the role of food in culture and society. The tools on monitoring and evaluation (M&E) are meant to fill a gap in risk communication response.

The handbook acknowledges that understanding the level of public concern is crucial in managing an event, even, or maybe especially, when the event is deemed low risk from a technical perspective.

Table of Contents

List of figures
Acknowledgements
List of abbreviations
INTRODUCTION AND PURPOSE

• Background
• Rationale for developing this handbook
• Purpose and target audience
• Scope
• Method
• Format and how to use the handbook
• References

CHAPTER 1: WHAT IS FOOD SAFETY RISK COMMUNICATION, AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT
Purpose

• 1.1 What is food safety risk communication?
• 1.2 Why is food safety risk communication important?
• 1.3 The goals of food safety risk communication
• 1.4 Challenges to effective risk communication
• 1.5 Why is risk perception important?
• 1.6 Use of food safety risk communication
• 1.7 Stakeholders and target audiences

Key references

CHAPTER 2: PRINCIPLES OF GOOD RISK COMMUNICATION
Purpose

• 2.1 Trust in information and regulatory institutions
• 2.2 Principles of good food safety risk communication
  • 2.2.1 Openness and transparency
  • 2.2.2 Timeliness and responsiveness
• 2.3 The importance of planning

Key references

CHAPTER 3: KEY FACTORS TO CONSIDER BEFORE COMMUNICATING ABOUT FOOD SAFETY RISKS
Purpose

• 3.1 Understanding the nature of the food safety issue
  • 3.1.1 What is the nature of the risks and benefits involved?
  • 3.1.2 What is the nature of the hazard?
  • 3.1.3 Assessing the quality/certainty of the available data
  • 3.1.4 Understanding what can be done about the risk
  • 3.1.5 Anticipating and addressing unintended consequences
• 3.2 Understanding target audience needs
  • 3.2.1 The cultural and socio-economic background of target audiences
  • 3.2.2 How to reach target audiences
• 3.3 What is the history of the risk, and the political and media environments surrounding it?
• 3.4 Understanding the communicator's responsibilities for food safety risk communication

Key references

CHAPTER 4: PUTTING FOOD SAFETY RISK COMMUNICATION INTO ACTION
Purpose

• 4.1 Knowing the target audience
• 4.2 How to understand target audiences
• 4.3 Stakeholder interactions
• 4.4 Dealing with uncertainty
• 4.5 Message development
• 4.6 Choosing communication channels/tools/methods
• 4.7 Interacting with the media
• 4.8 Interacting with other countries and beyond
• 4.9 Monitoring and evaluation

Key references

APPENDICES: SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL

• Appendix 1: Rapid assessment of risk communication capacity
• Appendix 2: Risk perception assessment tool
• Appendix 3: Accessible writing - low literacy guidelines

Further reading
Web sites with relevant training materials
Glossary