By Dr. Wanda Martin, Recent Doctoral Graduate
My recently completed dissertation focused on exploration of tensions between two public health programs, and provided insight to public health renewal processes to enhance food accessibility and safety. Through this research I examined how professionals and civil society members engaged in food security activities that included food safety precautions and how they work out different perspectives to support a safe and accessible food system.
Strengthening a coalition between food security and food safety may help to balance perceived power differentials by creating space for community building where everyone is working together. It is important to consider the extent and feasibility of intersectoral collaboration in order to recommend ways to improve
public health services. I explored how people who work from very different worldviews can come together to support a safe and accessible food supply, considering the complexities of the global food system.
This study had two research methods. One method was Concept Mapping, where 43 people answered an online survey to describe the way to ease tensions between those working in food safety and those working in food security. Twenty-three people then sorted the answers into groups, and 21 ranked them according to
how important and how feasible they felt the answers were to easing tensions.
The other method used a case study approach to do Situational Analysis. I interviewed 34 people who were involved with keeping urban chickens, involved in Farmer’s Markets, participated in community kitchens, used or produced raw milk, or worked in the areas of health protection or health promotion. I also included some document reviews, such as media stories, government reports, food safety regulations, and bylaws. I asked two main questions: (a) how are the intersecting areas between food safety and food security negotiated, and (b) what are the facilitators and constraints to collaboration?
I have argued that while there is concern for protecting the public’s health, food safety regulations are not set with a primary focus on protecting people from unsafe food, but are a vehicle for providing confidence in the market and among international trading partners, at the cost of health and welfare of small-scale producers in rural and remote communities. I am suggesting change not only in how we view and understand personal motives or worldviews related to food and market forces, but also a shift on a larger scale, to change structural conditions to promote health and to encourage a moral obligation to reduce health inequities.
Facilitators for collaboration primarily rest on developing trust and clear communication. Participants noted that willingness of regulatory authorities to listen to and respond to needs of civil society groups builds good relationships. Fostering the ability to work with community members is more important than exercising enforcement, power, and control. Having a shared understanding of the whole food system is important to understand the context and approach of each group involved. Overall, the common threads are trust and relationships. Trust in fair and equitable application of regulation, that people will practice safe food handling, and that reason will prevail over policy.
From the 2014 Spring Communiqué — Student Issue
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