Centre for Rural Economy

Current

Contamination of food with biological agents: an integrated risk analysis and risk communication approach

The project was awarded by the Marie Curie Actions within the EC-FP7 People programme as a Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship for Career Development.

This fellowship gave European researchers the opportunity to be trained and acquire new knowledge at a high-level research organisation in a third country, then return with this experience to a research organization in the E.U. Accordingly, the first two years of the project was completed in the Department of Social and Decision Sciences at Carnegie Mellon University in U.S.A., and the last year at the Centre for Rural Economy at Newcastle University in the U.K. 

The purpose of the project was to combine and use the expertise of natural and social science experts to communicate with consumers about the risks of food contamination and the things that they can do to control these risks. 

The objectives of the project are outlined as follows:

To develop an integrated expert model of the risks associated with the contamination of food by a biological agent. 

To elicit lay perceptions about these risks.

To create and evaluate communications regarding the risks of food contamination by a biological agent.