Food Protection Trends - January/February 2015 - 24

PEER-REVIEWED ARTICLE
Food Protection Trends, Vol 35, No. 1, p.24-35
Copyright©2015, International Association for Food Protection
6200 Aurora Ave., Suite 200W, Des Moines, IA 50322-2864

Elizabeth L. Petrun,*1 Anthony Flood,2
Timothy L. Sellnow,3 Marianne Smith Edge2
and Katie Burns2
University of Maryland, 8400 Baltimore Ave. Suite 250,
College Park, MD 20740, USA

International Food Information Council Foundation, 1100
Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 430, Washington, D.C.
20036, USA

University of Kentucky, 310 Lucille Little Fine Arts Bldg.,
Lexington, KY 40506-0042, USA

Shaping Health
Perceptions:
Communicating
Effectively about
Chemicals in Food
ABSTRACT
Risk, by its nature, is based in uncertainty. In many
instances, risk is subjectively constructed, resulting in
many interpretations of hazards and uncertainty about the
impact of risk. As the United States' food systems grow
more complex, the diversity of risks surrounding food also
increases. Public understanding of risks as well as benefits
associated with food production and chemicals is an area
in which efforts to reach a mutually acceptable consensus
have been largely unsuccessful. This study constitutes an
initial step in bridging the communication divide between
scientists and consumers by establishing a baseline of
understanding of how consumers view the potential risk of
chemicals in the food supply.
Study results indentify both constraints and opportunities in the future development of educational materials
explaining the role of chemicals in foods. Two phases of
data collection, consisting of eight small focus groups of
mothers in four cities and an electronic survey delivered to
1,000 mothers across the U.S., provide insight into health
perceptions of food, decision-making, and understanding
Phone: +1 301.466.4332; E-mail: epetrun@umd.edu

Food Protection Trends

January/February

of chemicals in food. Finally, recommendations highlight
communication challenges surrounding these risks and
offer further insight on improving the effectiveness and
accuracy of consumer health communication about chemicals in food.

INTRODUCTION
Risk, by its nature, is based in uncertainty. Thus, discussion
of the potential consequences associated with one's actions
always has as its "central variable" the idea of uncertainty
(10). Slovic (14) goes so far as to conceptualize discussion
of risk at a community or national level as "a game in which
rules must be socially negotiated within the context of a
specific problem." The National Research Council has long
argued that this discussion can and should function as a
"democratic dialogue" in which "multiple messages" from
all stakeholders are considered (9). Ideally, such a dialogue
would enable all parties to reach a mutually beneficial
agreement about what constitutes an acceptable level of risk.
However, reaching such a consensus is often problematic.

http://www.foodprotection.org/files/food-protection-trends/JAN-FEB-15-petrun.pdf

Food Protection Trends - January/February 2015

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