What's the Beef? ― The Contested Governance of European Food Safety

A series of food-related crises--most notably mad cow disease in Britain, farmerprotests in France against American hormone-treated beef, and the European Union's banning ofgenetically modified food--has turned the regulation of food safety in Europe into a crucible forissues of institutional trust, legitimacy, and effectiveness. What's the Beef? examines Europeanfood safety regulation at the national, European, and international levels as a case of "contestedgovernance"--a syndrome of policymaking and political dispute in which not only policy outcomes butaso the fundamental legitimacy of existing institutional arrangements are challenged.The discussionsof European food safety regulation in What's the Beef? open into consideration of broader issues,including the growing importance of multilevel regulation (and the possibility of disagreementsamong different levels of authority), the future of European integration, discontent over tradeglobalization, the politicization of risk assessment and regulatory science, the regulation ofbiotechnology, the shifting balance between public and private regulation, agriculturalprotectionism, and the "transatlantic divide." After addressing the historical, social, and economiccontext of European food safety regulation, the book examines national efforts at food safety reformin France, Britain, and Germany and such regional efforts as the creation of the European FoodAuthority. The book also looks at the international dimensions of European food safety regulation,discussing the conflicts between EU safety rules and World Trade Organization rulings that occurbecause EU rules are more risk averse ("precautionary") than those of its trading partners,including the United States.

David Vogel is Professor in the Department of Political Science and the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. He holds the Solomon Lee Chair in Business Ethics.