Rethinking Science in Oyster Food Safety Regimes: Vibriosis and the Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference as an Actor Network

Abstract

Providing the world with a safe and secure food supply is an on-going challenge. National and international food safety agencies have long attempted to conquer this challenge by using a variety of regimes. This thesis considers the role that science has played and continues to play in such food safety regimes. The case of foodborne vibriosis amongst raw oyster eaters is used to explore the role science and identify the multiple relationships that exist in any food safety situation. Further, this thesis takes a 'double-dip' novel approach by using the Actor-Network Theory (ANT) framework to consider the United States of America's Interstate Shellfish Sanitation Conference (ISSC) as an assemblage. The ISSC is the governance agency tasked to deal with foodborne vibriosis caused by Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Vibrio vulnificus. A mixed-method approach was used to gather the research data which included semi-structured interviews, a review of published and grey literature and observation of key relationships during a two-year placement in the United States Food and Drug Administration's Office of Sea food. Much of the resulting data rich material was exposed during the 73 interviews, which included every scientist reporting to the ISSC and all the voting members empowered to determine the USA oyster food safety regulations. In using ANT to explore how the ISSC members use science and food safety policy to deal with vibriosis it becomes apparent that many of the wider assumptions about science are not what they seem. Moreover, our complex world requires that science's matters of fact are considered with societies' matters of concern. If a binary division is made between scientific facts and other matters of fact, then food safety solutions are unlikely to be robust or acceptable. The research makes four contributions to the literature and to the food safety policy realm. First, it provides the first study of the ISSC as a unique assemblage. Second it provides the first account of the ISSC and food safety as seen through the opinions of its own members. Third, it suggests that the food safety science most frequently posed to science, namely "Why has science not solved the problem?", is the wrong question. Finally, through each of these points there is a contribution to food safety policy. The findings identify that we need to rethink how science can and should be used within the food safety risk paradigm.