Food safety and risk communication: cases history and best practice (in avian flu)

• DOI: 10.2427/5896
• Publication Date: 2024-06-05T12:43:28Z
• Authors: Piermarco Aroldi; Simone Carlo; Fausto Colombo
• Keywords: health emergency; 0508 media and communications; health risk; risk communication; public communication; 05 social sciences; Health risk; avian flu; Health risk; health emergency; risk communication; avian flu; public communication

The paper discusses the role of institutional communication in the case of health risks and emergencies. The article is divided in three sections. The first section examines the most recent theories on risk and on its communicational aspect; the second analyses a recent state of emergency crisis, specifically the panic which stemmed from the perceived danger of an avian flu pandemic in Italy; and finally an example of best practice in the form of a food safety handbook designed and edited by the Italian Ministry of Rural Affairs, which was based on the skills and knowledge acquired during the avian flu emergency.