Exploring Food Safety & Food Security Tensions

Wanda Martin, RN, PhD(c)

School of Nursing, University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Abstract

Social Network Analysis

Situational Analysis

Concept Mapping

Background: Tensions have arisen between food security and food

safety public health core programs in British Columbia due to policy
changes that have highlighted different perspectives on safe food
production. The food safety core program is highly regulated under the
Public Health Act, with Environmental Health Officers focused on
inspection, education, and surveillance. The food security core program
is primarily community-based with a Food Security Coordinator
providing support through resources, advocacy, and leadership. The
food programs share a common goal of access to a safe food supply,
but finding the right balance between full access and full safety is
challenging due to the different disciplinary perspectives operating
across sub-sectors within the public health system.

I am using SNA , done at a local level, to look at how food safety

information flows among and between the four cases, including between
food safety and food security professionals working in the health
authority. SNA allows for the description of social structures as networks
and helps to interpret the behaviour of actors in light of their position
within the social structure7. Early interviews show that those who
consume raw milk are getting food safety information from each other
and the internet, not from professionals.

SA is an approach to research using a grounded theorizing

methodology to frame basic social processes and by representing
complexity through mapmaking8 Clarke has taken grounded theory
in a new direction that is situation-centred and focused on a social
worlds/arenas/negotiations framework8 SA is beneficial as it
provides explanatory maps for knowledge translation activities, and
to provide additional views of the data that may be unique to the
situation. SA is substantive theorizing and story-telling through the
use of maps with a goal of critical analysis to produce a truth or
possible truths8. SA provides a means to specify and map all the
important human and nonhuman elements of a situation,
emphasizing relationships, positions, social worlds, and discursive
positions8. Clarke identifies three main types of maps to help
understand the situation: 1) Situational maps, 2) Social world/arenas
maps, and 3) Positional maps.

CM is a type of structured conceptualization that consists of six

phases9. This method enables a group to describe ideas in response to
a focused question, which translates to maps for visual
representation10. Focusing on the national level, CM can contribute to
the exploration of redesigning the relationship between those working
in food security and in food safety. CM will assist with the knowledge
translation of study results by identifying ways to move intersectoral
collaboration forward. It can offer a unique view of the primary question
in this study and is a method specifically geared for systems thinking10.

Context of work: Using a complexity lens on food security cases

(community kitchens, raw milk, urban chickens, and farmers markets) I
am using Social Network Analysis (SNA), Situational Analysis (SA), and
Concept Mapping (CM) to explore the tensions between food security
and food safety.

A way to maximize understanding and collaboration between

those working in food safety and food security is
Implement Integrated
Professional Training
Promote Evidence
Based Practice

Share Findings in the

Context of Practice

Who and what are in this situation?

Importance of work: Intersectoral collaboration is crucial to effective

public health programs. Addressing tensions between the sectors of
food safety and food security can help achieve closer alignment
between the programs, and contribute to a safer, more accessible and
healthy food supply in British Columbia.

Enhance
Communication

Change Educational
Culture and Structure

Provide Incentives to
Integrate Various
Opinions

Mea
t

Bake
d
goods

Ensure Quality
And Accountability

Market
consumers

Fund and Facilitate

Integration Activities

Cases
Respond to
Community
Priorities
Chick Suppliers

Tensio
n

Develop Participatory/Action
Research Strategies

Community
Kitchen Leaders

r = .29

4.38

Example of a cluster
Go-Zone Map

43

Feasibili
ty

Raw milk
producers

105
39

3.56

19
6
73

25
83

62
95
58

15

97
2.81
3.19

4.09

Importan
ce

4.88

Importance of Intersectoral Collaboration Research

Intersectoral collaboration is a joint working arrangement through which
those working in different sectors unite to address an issue or to achieve
a common goal11. As different sub-sectors within public health, food
security is a highly community driven program with health authority staff
working to support community activities, while the food safety program is
highly regulatory, with health authority staff more often seen as
enforcers, than as professionals working with community members.
Forming a new coalition between food security and food safety will
balance perceived power differentials. Benefits of an alliance include
increasing networks, sharing information, accessing resources,
participating in decision-making, and experiencing a sense of
accomplishment. There is an advantage to early identification of
problems and developing interventions together. An important aspect of
intersectoral collaboration is maintaining positive relationships with a
focused goal in this case, safe accessible food for all.

PRELIMINARY MAP OF SOCIAL

WORLDS / ARENAS
Health
Authority

Urban Chickens Urban agriculture is the production of crops and

livestock within cities and towns1. Keeping farm animals on city lots
offers challenges for animal by-law enforcement and environmental
health officers.

Dieticia
n

Food
Security
Food
Safety

Community Kitchens These are community-based cooking programs

consisting of small groups of people pooling labour and resources to
make one or more meals2. Typically, they meet twice per month: once to
plan the menu and the shopping list, and once to do the cooking and
divide it among themselves to take home3.

Farm
er

Farmers Markets This is where growers or producers from a local

area are present in person to sell their own product directly to the
public4. Farmers Markets are thought to increase access to healthier
food choices and a wider variety of food5.

References
Intern
et

1.
2.
3.

Raw Milk It is well established that cows milk provides a protective

health effect such as improving bone density. People who prefer raw
milk argue that the pasteurization process decreases the flavour and
nutritional quality6. The sale of raw milk is illegal in Canada, but should
raw milk be available to people who understand the potential risks?

Funding
Financial support has been provided by the Canadian Institutes of
Health Research Frederick Banting and Charles Best Doctoral
Award.
Contact: wmartin@uvic.ca June 8, 2011

4.

KEY

5.
6.

Arenas
Negotiations
Organizations
Social Worlds & Subworlds / Segments

7.
8.
9.
10.
11.

Zezza, A., & Tasciotti, L. (2110). Urban agriculture, poverty, and food security: Empirical evidence from a sample of developing
countries. Food Policy, 35(4), 265-273.
Engler-Stringer, R., & Berenbaum, S. (2006). Food and Nutrition-Related Learning In Collective Kitchens in Three Canadian Cities.
Canadian Journal of Dietetic Practice and Research, 67(4), 178-183.
Tarasuk, V., & Reynolds, R. (1999). A qualitative study of community kitchens as a response to income-related food insecurity.
Canadian Journal of Dietetic Practice and Research, 60(1), 11-16.
Worsfold, D., Worsfold, P. M., & Griffith, C. J. (2004). An assessment of food hygiene and safety at farmers' markets. International
Journal of Environmental Health Research, 14(2), 109-119.
Larsen, K., & Gilliland, J. (2009). A farmers' market in a food desert: Evaluating impacts on the price and availability of healthy
food. Health & Place, 15(4), 1158-1162.
Adams, D. C., Olexa, M. T., Owens, T. L., & Cossey, J. A. (2008). Deja Moo: Is the return to public sale of raw milk udder
nonsense? Drake Journal of Agriculture Law, 13, 305-346.
Marsden, P. V. (1990). Network Data And Measurement. Annual Review of Sociology, 16(1), 435-463.
Clarke, A. E. (2005). Situational Analysis: Grounded Theory After the Postmodern Turn. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Trochim, W. M. (1989). An introduction to concept mapping for planning and evaluation. Evaluation Program Planning, 12, 1-16.
Trochim, W. M., Cabrera, D. A., Milstein, B., Gallagher, R. S., & Leischow, S. J. (2006). Practical challenges of systems thinking
and modeling in public health. American Journal of Public Health, 96(3), 538-546.
Dowling, B., Powell, M., & Glendinning, C. (2004). Conceptualising successful partnerships. Health & Social Care in the
Community, 12(4), 309-317.