风险社会中的食品安全再认识

Re-defining Food Safety Against Risk Society

近年来,食品安全无疑是一个被高度聚焦的话题。但是,食品安全(food safety)与其他食品相关概念,如粮食安全(food security)等的关联和区别却经常被混淆。就食品安全概念本身而言,尽管从科学视角所达成的定义已经成为共识,即食品安全是指食品无毒、无害,符合应当有的营养要求,对人体健康不造成任何急性、亚急性或者慢性危害,但是,在涉及具体的案例时,如转基因食品,上述的科学定义依旧无助于解决这些在规制实践中所出现的冲突问题。随着风险社会的到来,对于"技术风险"的重新认识已经影响到了对于安全的判断,本文从风险社会的视角入手,阐述了食品安全作为可接受风险水平这样一个既涉及科学又涉及价值的判断,以及用以判断的以风险评估为主要内容的科学原则和风险预防原则,进而分别应对决策判断中的风险不确定性和科学不确定性。

Food safety has been a highly concerned issue in recent years.However,in the sense of translation and recognition,food safety is always confused with other food related concepts,such as food security.namely,the assurance that the food is nontoxic,harmless,and compliant with reasonable nutritional requirement,and will not cause any acute,chronic and potential hazards to human health.However,when it comes to cases,such as the food from GMOs,the so-called scientific definition regarding food safety is not adequate to solve those conflicting regulatory issues in practice.As a matter of fact,it is important to note that with the arrival of risk society,the re-appreciation of'technical risk'has influenced the judgment on what safety may be.When it comes to make decision about such acceptable level,the scientific principle in term of risk assessment and precautionary principle are quite essential to handle the uncertainty around risk as well as science.