What's the Beef?: The Contested Governance of European Food Safety (Politics, Science, and the Environment)

399 Pages·2006·0.74 MB·English

by  Christopher Ansell

0880Ansell 2/24/06 4:06 PM Page 1
environment/political science
WHAT’S THE BEEF?
W
THE CONTESTED GOVERNANCE OF H W H AT ’ S T H E B E E F ?
EUROPEAN FOOD SAFETY A
T
edited by Christopher Ansell andDavid Vogel ’S
THE CONTESTED GOVERNANCE OF
A series of food-related crises—most notably mad “Food issues are at the heart of ongoing policy T
cow disease in Britain, farmer protests in France debates between Europe and the United States,
H
against American hormone-treated beef, and the ranging from whether we should have further agri-
European Union’s banning of genetically modified cultural subsidies to whether we should grow and E
food—has turned the regulation of food safety in eat genetically modified foods. Yet to date there has EUROPEAN FOOD SAFET Y
Europe into a crucible for issues of institutional been little academic analysis explaining why these B
trust, legitimacy, and effectiveness. What’s the Beef? debates are often left unresolved, often due to a lack E
examines European food safety regulation at the of trust, the role of regulatory scandals, or the impor-
E
national, European, and international levels as a case tance of food culture. This timely book addresses this
of “contested governance”—a syndrome of policy- gap, and hence is essential for anyone interested in F
making and political dispute in which not only policy U.S.-European policyanalysis.” ?
outcomes but also the fundamental legitimacy of Ragnar E. Lofstedt, Professor and Director, King’s
existing institutional arrangements are challenged. Centre for Risk Management, Kings College London
The discussions of European food safety regula-
“Thanks to a broad array of both highly informative
tion in What’s the Beef? open into consideration and conceptually sophisticated articles, the editors Ansell edited by Christopher Ansell and David Vogel
of broader issues, including the growing importance
manage to analyze all the major questions raised by
of multilevel regulation (and the possibility of dis- the debate, from trade-related issues, to public/ and
agreements among different levels of authority),
private sector relations, to the cultural dimensions of
the future of European integration, discontent over Vogel,
food regulation, to institutional questions. This will
trade globalization, the politicization of risk assess-
become the ABC of food regulation.” editors
ment and regulatory science, the regulation of
Kalypso Nicolaïdis, University Lecturer in Interna-
biotechnology, the shifting balance between public
tional Relations, University of Oxford
and private regulation, agricultural protectionism,
and the “transatlantic divide.” After addressing the “This book assembles contributions by internationally
historical, social, and economic context of European renowned experts on food regulation, a topic of
food safety regulation, the book examines national considerable importance. Authoritative and wide-
efforts at food safety reform in France, Britain, and ranging, it will be a key addition to the literature.”
Germany and such regional efforts as the creation Wyn Grant, Politics and International Studies
of the European Food Authority. The book also looks Department, University of Warwick
at the international dimensions of European food
safety regulation, discussing the conflicts between
EU safety rules andWorldTrade Organization rulings
that occur because EU rules are more risk averse
(“precautionary”) than those of its tradingpartners,
including the United States.
Christopher Ansell is Associate Professor of 0-262-51192-4
Political Science at the University of California,
Berkeley. David Vogelis Professor in the Depart-
ment of Political Science and the Haas School of
Business at the University of California, Berkeley.
The MIT Press|Massachusetts Institute of Technology|Cambridge,
He holds the Solomon Lee Chair in Business Ethics.
Massachusetts 02142|http://mitpress.mit.edu|Cover photograph by
Yves Herman © Reuters/CORBIS
POLITICS, SCIENCE, AND THE ENVIRONMENT SERIES
What’s the Beef?
Politics, Science, and the Environment
Peter M. Haas, Sheila Jasanoff, and Gene Rochlin, editors
Shadows in the Forest: Japan and the Politics of Timber in Southeast Asia
Peter Dauvergne
Views from the Alps: Regional Perspectives on Climate Change
Peter Cebon, Urs Dahinden, Huw Davies, Dieter M. Imboden, and
Carlo C. Jaeger, eds.,
People and Forests: Communities, Institutions, and Governance
Clark C. Gibson, Margaret A. McKean, and Elinor Ostrom, eds.
Learning to Manage Global Environmental Risks. Volume 1: A Comparative
History of Social Responses to Climate Change, Ozone Depletion, and Acid
Rain. Volume 2: A Functional Analysis of Social Responses to Climate
Change, Ozone Depletion, and Acid Rain
The Social Learning Group
Changing the Atmosphere: Expert Knowledge and Environmental Governance
Clark Miller and Paul N. Edwards, eds.
Bureaucratic Landscapes: Interagency Cooperation and the Preservation of
Biodiversity
Craig W. Thomas
The Commons in the New Millennium: Challenges and Adaptation
Nives Dolsak and Elinor Ostrom, eds.
Acid Rain Science and Politics in Japan: A History of Knowledge and Action
Toward Sustainability
Kenneth E. Wilkening
Global Institutions and Social Knowledge: Generating Research atthe Scripps
Institution and the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission, 1900s–1990s
Virginia M. Walsh,
Earthly Politics: Local and Global in Environmental Governance
Sheila Jasanoff and Marybeth Long Martello, eds.
What’s the Beef? The Contested Governance of European Food Safety
Christopher Ansell and David Vogel, eds.
What’s the Beef?
The Contested Governance of European Food Safety
edited by Christopher Ansell and David Vogel
The MIT Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London, England
© 2006 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any
electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or informa-
tion storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher.
MIT Press books may be purchased at special quantity discounts for business or
sales promotional use. For information, please e-mail special_sales@mitpress.
mit.edu or write to Special Sales Department, The MIT Press, 55 Hayward Street,
Cambridge, MA 02142.
This book was set in Sabon by SNP Best-set Typesetter Ltd., Hong Kong and
was printed and bound in the United States of America. Printed on recycled
paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
What’s the beef? / edited by Christopher Ansell and David Vogel.
p. cm.—(Politics, science, and the environment)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-262-01225-1 (alk. paper)—ISBN 0-262-51192-4 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Food service—Safety measures 2. Food handling—Safety measures. I.
Ansell, Christopher K., 1957– II. Vogel, David, 1947– III. Series.
TX911.3.S3W43 2006
363.192—dc22
2005056208
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgments vii
I Introduction 1
1 The Contested Governance of European Food Safety Regulation 3
Christopher Ansell and David Vogel
II The Social and Economic Context 33
2 Taste, Traditions, and Transactions: The Public and Private
Regulation of Food 35
Frans van Waarden
3 Contentions over Food Safety: The Significance of Consumer
Trust 61
Unni Kjærnes, Arne Dulsrud, and Christian Poppe
4 Food Safety and the Structure of the European Food Industry 81
Thomas Bernauer and Ladina Caduff
5 Protesting Food: NGOs and Political Mobilization in Europe 97
Christopher Ansell, Rahsaan Maxwell, and Daniela Sicurelli
III Reforming National Food Safety Regulation 123
6 Is It Just about Trust? The Partial Reform of French Food Safety
Regulation 125
Olivier Borraz, Julien Besançon, and Christophe Clergeau
vi Contents
7 From Precautionary Bans to DIY Poison Tasting: Reform of the UK
Food Safety Regulation Regime 153
Henry Rothstein
8 Governance Reform of German Food Safety Regulation:
Cosmetic or Real? 181
Bodo Steiner
IV The European Dimension 211
9 Regulating Food Safety Risks in the European Union: A
Comparative Perspective 213
Grace Skogstad
10 Food Safety and the Single European Market 237
Alberto Alemanno
11 The Creation of the European Food Safety Authority 259
Laurie Buonanno
V The International Dimension 279
12 Protection or Protectionism? EU Food Safety and the WTO 281
Alasdair R. Young and Peter Holmes
13 Compatibility or Clash? EU Food Safety and the WTO 307
Christine Noiville
VI Conclusion 327
14 The Asymmetries of Governance 329
Christopher Ansell
References 351
List of Contributors 381
Index 383
Acknowledgments
This project has been a highly collaborative effort. Our primary funding
came from the Institute for European Studies at the University of Cali-
fornia, and we could like to express our appreciation for its invaluable
financial support as well as for the logistical and administrative assis-
tance of its excellent staff. Our first project meeting was held in Paris
and was sponsored by Sciences Po under the direction of Renaud
Dehousse. We owe a considerable debt to the participants at our pre-
liminary meeting in Paris as well as to those who attended a similar
meeting held in Berkeley for experts on European food safety in North
America. They played a critical role in helping us formulate and define
the basic intellectual framework for this project. Our final meeting in
Berkeley was cosponsored by the Clausen Center for International Busi-
ness and Policy at the Haas School of Business, directed by Sebastian
Teunissen and held at the Center for Law and Society at UC Berkeley,
directed by Robert Kagan.
Rahsaan Maxwell, a graduate student in the Department of Political
Science at UC Berkeley, in addition to coauthoring one of the books
chapters, served as the project’s research assistant, helping us identify
possible contributors, survey the extensive literature on European food
safety, and organize each of our three meetings. We are very much in his
debt.
We would also like to thank our editor at MIT Press, Clay Morgan,
for his support of this project and to acknowledge the helpful advice of
the three editors of the series in which this book appears, namely, Peter
Haas, Sheila Jasanoff, and Gene Rochlin. The book also benefited from
the constructive criticism of the three anonymous reviewers for the press.
viii Acknowledgments
We are especially pleased to note the number of nationalities repre-
sented in this volume. Our twenty contributors are drawn from nine
countries—Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, the Nether-
lands, Norway, Switzerland, and the United States—making this book a
notable example of international academic collaboration.
David Vogel
Christopher Ansell
Berkeley, California
August, 2005
I
Introduction