Terror trumps mad cow for food scares, and it comes down to trust
Media Release, Wednesday 9 August 2006
The threat of food contamination by terrorists is more harmful to food consumption levels than the threat of diseases such as ‘mad cow’, according to a US expert speaking at the University of Melbourne today (Wednesday 09 August).
Professor Calum Turvey, from New York’s Cornell University, says his research shows consumers were fearful to make purchases after a terror-related contamination threat, due to a lack of trust in government, health groups and retailers.
He will present the international lecture ‘Risk, Trust, Mad Cows and Terror’ at the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Land and Food Resources.
Professor Turvey says events in recent US history – such as September 11 in 2001 and the discovery of a BSE infected cow in 2003 – demonstrate a new fixation with maintaining the safety of food, and illustrate heightened public fears about the threat of terrorism by food contagion.
The basis for the lecture will be two surveys which analysed the way consumers reacted to the threat of ‘mad cow’ disease and to a hypothetical threat of terrorist-planted food contamination.
The surveys addressed factors such as the sources of public knowledge of mad cow disease, the levels of trust accredited to the US food supply and suppliers, as well as opinions on which food products are considered least safe by consumers.
Results of the terror study showed that a normal level of consumption did not return even after consumers were told the threat level of contamination was zero.
According to Professor Turvey, 29% of consumers who took the terror survey claimed that they would purchase “nothing at all” even if the government assured them that the threat had been completely assuaged.
“Trust was not strong enough to overcome the fear of a terrorist attack,” Professor Turvey says.
He adds that the lag in demand for potentially contaminated produce was caused by “consumer hysteria”, a fear of reversing consumption habits even when the underlying source of uncertainty – in this case the threat of terrorist-related food contamination – is gone.
“What is considered safe is more of a guttural response to trust within the system than any particular level of knowledge,” he said.
Professor Turvey will be leading a seminar for University of Melbourne Land and Food students today, before presenting the lecture ‘Risk, Trust, Mad Cows and Terrorists.’
For more information, a copy of the lecture, or to interview Professor Turvey:
Matt Johnston
8344 0561
0437 367 490
WHO: Professor Calum Turvey, W I Myers Professor of Agricultural Finance, Cornell University, New York
WHAT: Public lecture: Risk, Trust, Mad Cows and Terrorists
WHEN: Wednesday 09 August, 6:30pm-7:30pm
WHERE: Kimpton Theatre, Faculty of Land and Food Resources, University of Melbourne, Royal Parade, Parkville
|
|
