The Process of Framing

Generally, the food safety governance activities represented by the framework in Fig. 2.8 are subject to various institutional and legal arrangements concerned with the assignment of responsibilities and the articulation of rights and obligations. The specific relevance of framing within this structure, as illustrated by the cyclical nature of the framework, lies in the fact that these processes are open to design, iterative development in the face of new learning, and to feedback between various stages in the process in response to regulatory oversight activities. The design and development of the process itself are guided by European Directives, Decisions, Regulations, and other European legal instruments and principles – which themselves can all become subject to change – and are moreover shaped by non-binding frames such as conventions, prominent perspectives and orientations, as well as by international influences. By explicitly including this as an element in the proposed framework within framing, it is acknowledged that the application of the precautionary principle as a general governance principle takes place at a number of organisational, legal and discursive levels, including institutional structure, process implementation and the exercise of administrative discretion.