Food Safety and Agriculture

This chapter focuses on European and American policies toward the risks of food safety and agricultural production methods. A number of food safety regulations were affected by a divergence in transatlantic public risk perceptions. During the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, public concerns about the risks of carcinogens in the food supply were greater in the United States than in Europe, while during the 1980s, the safety risks of beef hormones became highly salient in Europe, but not in the United States. In addition, the criteria used by policy makers in both the United States and Europe to assess and manage risks shifted: American regulatory officials placed increased reliance on scientific risk assessments, while European policy makers began to employ a more precautionary approach to food safety risks.