Including social impact assessment in food safety governance

This paper applies the concepts of social impact assessment (SIA) to the SAFE FOODS risk analysis model highlighting the role that concern assessment, defined as a structured and systematic inclusion of (also wider) social concerns into risk governance, could play in the integration of SIA in food safety governance. SIA is discussed in terms of the European policy background, the historical context, and the introduction of the social impact concept to food safety governance. The proposal focuses on three stages: “preliminary framing”, “concern assessment” (serving as a scoping mechanism), and potentially a comprehensive “social impact assessment”. This three-step approach can provide orientation on the required extent and design of stakeholder/public participation and insight into the risk-benefit communication process.