Does the Food Safety Ranking System Act as a Nudge?

Does the Food Safety Ranking System Act as a Nudge?

Bhuvanesh Awasthi
Copyright: © 2021 |Pages: 17
DOI: 10.4018/IJABE.2021100104
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Abstract

Public health safety is of concern to authorities across the globe, and inspector's food hygiene ranking system has been introduced in many countries. Mandatory disclosure of hygiene ranking information was introduced to empower consumers to make informed decisions regarding foodborne risks. Evaluating available research on public perception and attitude towards such rankings, it seems that the food safety rankings may prompt hygiene compliance by the food business operators and may act as a nudge for consumers to avoid outlets, though with certain caveats. Significant assessment of the scheme remains to be carried out for the ranking system to be an effective nudge for sustainable consumer protection. The public health authorities and organisations need to consider several real-world cognitive and behavioural constraints.
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Food Safety Surveillance System

Public health authorities provide a combination of regulatory oversight and industry incentives to contain the risk of foodborne outbreaks and illnesses,

To ensure sufficient hygienic and safety standards at food outlets, food authorities inspect the Food Business Operator (FBO) as per the laid out regulatory protocols as well their own hazard analysis critical control points (HACCP) practices. To enable confidence and safety measures, inspector rankings serve an important purpose of informing the consumer of the relative safety index. Food inspector rankings are hailed as an outstanding example of combining mandated disclosure with consumer decision making (Fung, Graham, & Weil, 2007). Ben-Shahar and Schneider (2011) also opine that inspector hygiene rankings stand apart as a noteworthy public safety alternative. It is important to note that such rankings have significant ‘last mile’ touchpoints, wherein the end-user, i.e., consumer perception and subsequent behaviour is critical in the success of such policy intervention.

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