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A fuzzy multi-criteria approach for the ex-ante impact assessment of food safety policies

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  • Mazzocchi, Mario
  • Ragona, Maddalena
  • Zanoli, Agostina

Abstract

There are many obstacles hindering regulatory impact assessment (RIA) for food safety policies, mainly difficulties in the monetisation of impacts and major uncertainties in assessing some of the policy outcomes. This paper reviews these obstacles and explores how a procedure based on fuzzy methods could address them. The resulting tool (named ‘Scryer’) consists in the combination of an explicit scoring system with indicators of uncertainty in assessments, and the application of fuzzy logic to multi-criteria analysis. Among the desirable properties of Scryer there are the ability of aggregating a variety of different impacts without necessarily monetise them, and the flexibility to adjust to qualitative and model-based impact assessment. An illustrative application on regulating mycotoxin contents in cereals and cereal products is provided.

Suggested Citation

  • Mazzocchi, Mario & Ragona, Maddalena & Zanoli, Agostina, 2013. "A fuzzy multi-criteria approach for the ex-ante impact assessment of food safety policies," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 177-189.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jfpoli:v:38:y:2013:i:c:p:177-189
    DOI: 10.1016/j.foodpol.2012.11.011
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    2. Steven Duret & Hong‐Minh Hoang & Evelyne Derens‐Bertheau & Anthony Delahaye & Onrawee Laguerre & Laurent Guillier, 2019. "Combining Quantitative Risk Assessment of Human Health, Food Waste, and Energy Consumption: The Next Step in the Development of the Food Cold Chain?," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 39(4), pages 906-925, April.
    3. Perito, Maria Angela & Hammoudi, Abdelhakim, 2012. "Food safety standards and their impact on the small farms of developed countries," Politica Agricola Internazionale - International Agricultural Policy, Edizioni L'Informatore Agrario, vol. 2012(4), pages 1-14.
    4. Ragona, Maddalena & Albertazzi, Sergio & Nicolli, Francesco & Mazzanti, Massimiliano & Montini, Anna & Vitali, Giuliano & Canavari, Maurizio, 2014. "Alternative subsidy scenarios for different agricultural practices: A sustainability assessment using fuzzy multi-criteria analysis," 2014 Third Congress, June 25-27, 2014, Alghero, Italy 173095, Italian Association of Agricultural and Applied Economics (AIEAA).
    5. Pablo Vidueira & José M. Díaz-Puente & María Rivera, 2014. "Socioeconomic Impact Assessment in Ex Ante Evaluations," Evaluation Review, , vol. 38(4), pages 309-335, August.
    6. Martha McMahon, 2013. "What Food is to be Kept Safe and for Whom? Food-Safety Governance in an Unsafe Food System," Laws, MDPI, vol. 2(4), pages 1-27, October.
    7. Alvarez, Sergio & Solís, Daniel & Hwang, Joonghyun, 2019. "Modeling shellfish harvest policies for food safety: Wild oyster harvest restrictions to prevent foodborne Vibrio vulnificus," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 219-230.

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