How to communicate food risk? A handbook for professionals

In Europe today, our food is arguably safer and more accessible than ever before. Despite this, there appears to be an increasing lack of public confidence in the food supply. A proactive approach to communicating about food would help to reassure the public about its safety, restore consumers’ trust in the authorities charged with regulating it, and help people understand how to eat safely and healthily.

This handbook focuses on the two specific aspects of food information communication: food risk communication in general, and in crisis situations. Food risk communication is the process of informing audiences, frequently the general public, about food-related risk and safety issues, and providing sufficient information to allow them to take action to reduce or avoid risks.

While food risk and benefit communication cannot be made into an exact science, this handbook may serve as a condensed introductory guide to the basics of the topic. It is intended to be used as a quick reference handbook and to complement more comprehensive documents on the topic of food safety and risk communication that have been issued by several interation or governmental organizations. For more in depth information, readers are encouraged to consult the Further Reading section of the handbook .

To download a pdf version of the handbook, click here.