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Risk Ranking: Investigating Expert and Public Differences in Evaluating Food Safety Risks

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Author Info
Webster, Kevin D.
Jardine, Cindy G.
McMullen, Lynn
Cash, Sean B.

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Abstract

The allocation of resources with respect to food safety issues requires that decision-makers prioritize these issues, which may conflict with the public’s opinions on these matters. These differences between the experts’ perception of risk and that of the public were examined. A modified Carnegie Mellon risk ranking model was used to rank six food safety issues. The six food safety issues used in the discussions were: Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella, botulism, Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP), and acrylamide. Focus groups were conducted using public (n=29) and expert (n=21) participants, and a public survey was commissioned to further explore the focus group results. Key themes were identified from the focus groups as reasons why risks were rated high or low. Explanations for why choices were made included availability, affect, numeracy and optimistic bias. The effect of attribute framing seemed to be the most influential in a participant’s choices.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by University of Alberta, Department of Rural Economy in its series Project Report Series with number 6378.

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Date of creation: 2008
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Handle: RePEc:ags:ualbpr:6378

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Related research
Keywords: Risk ranking; Food safety; Experts; Public; Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety; Institutional and Behavioral Economics; Risk and Uncertainty; D81; Q18; I18;

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  1. Slovic, Paul & Finucane, Melissa L. & Peters, Ellen & MacGregor, Donald G., 2007. "The affect heuristic," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 177(3), pages 1333-1352, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Sunstein, Cass R, 2003. " Terrorism and Probability Neglect," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 26(2-3), pages 121-36, March-May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Bond, Eric W & Crocker, Keith J, 1991. "Smoking, Skydiving, and Knitting: The Endogenous Categorization of Risks in Insurance Markets with Asymmetric Information," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(1), pages 177-200, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Folkes, Valerie S, 1988. " The Availability Heuristic and Perceived Risk," Journal of Consumer Research: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, University of Chicago Press, vol. 15(1), pages 13-23, June.
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