FROM POLICY COMMUNITY TO ISSUE NETWORK: SALMONELLA IN EGGS AND THE NEW POLITICS OF FOOD
| Published date | 01 June 1991 |
| Author | MARTIN J. SMITH |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1991.tb00792.x |
| Date | 01 June 1991 |
FROM POLICY COMMUNITY
TO
ISSUE
NETWORK:
SALMONELLA
IN
EGGS
AND
THE
NEW
POLITICS
OF
FOOD
MARTIN
J.
SMITH
In
the last
two
years the issue of food has been subject to increasing political controversy
with firstly
salmonella
in eggs and later listeria and
BSE
becoming the focus of conflict
and widespread media attention. This is an important change.
In
most of the post-war
period food policy was conducted within a relatively closed policy community where issues
concerning food policy were largely treated as routine technical decisions. The significance
of the
snlmonella
in eggs affair is that
it
is indicative of wider changes
in
the making of
food policy. The increased activity of interest groups, the impact of the Common
Agricultural Policy and changes in the retail economy have combined to transform the
food policy community into an issue network.
In
the last two years food and,
in
particular, the production and quality of food
has become a political issue. This
is
an important change. From the
1950s
food
policy was subject to little political debate. Britain’s
food
policy has been constrained
by
a
consensus which limits the role
of
government
to
facilitating the best quality
and choice
of
food
at
a
reasonable price.
This
has
been
ensured through agricultural
policy, a limited nutritional policy (Mills
1991)
and legislation dealing with the
handling and storage of food. However, most of these issues were seen as technical
matters and discussion on food policy and the views of the consumers were largely
excluded from the political agenda.
The article will
use
the concept of policy networks to explain the way in which
food
has become
a
political issue. Policy networks are
a
means
of
categorizing
the relationship between groups and the government/government department.
These range from policy communities to issue networks. In the former there
is
a limited number of participants who share values on policy outcomes with a limited
number
of
decision-making centres and decisions are made excludmg the public and
Parliament
(Rhodes
1988).
In
the latter there is a wide range
of
actors moving in
and
out
of
the policy arenas
with
different views
of
policy outcomes and a wide range of
decision-making centres
(Heclo
1978).
If
a policy community exists
it
is
possible
to
Martin
J.
Smith
is
Lecturer in Politics at the University
of
Sheffield. The author would like
to
thank
John Bumett and Keith Dowding
for
comments
on
earlier versions
of
this article.
Public Administration
Vol.
69 Summer
1991
(235-255)
0
1991
Royal Institute
of
Public Administration
ISSN
0033-3298 $3.00
236
MARTIN
J.
SMITH
depoliticize a policy arena by excluding groups which are likely to disagree with the
established policy agenda from the policy-making process. With an issue network,
policy-making is more likely to be pluralistic with many groups in conflict over the
policy outcomes in addition to conflict between the various decision-malung centres.
This article will show how, after the Second World War, the issue of food was
depoliticized and a policy community was established which excluded consumers.
It will then examine the impact of the
salmonella
in eggs affair in order to
demonstrate the way in which the food policy network, unable to maintain the
depoliticization of
food,
was transformed into an issue network.
THE SECOND WORLD WAR
AND
THE DEPOLITICIZATION OF FOOD
During the Second World War the need to ensure adequate supplies of food and
a nutritional diet meant that food became political in the sense of being subject
to conflict over the
food
policy that should be followed. In addition, through the
establishment of a Ministry of Food, consumers were given some influence over
food policy. The Ministry of
Food
was created in wartime in order to ensure that
people were provided with 'the utmost supplies possible of food for direct human
consumption.
.
.'
(Hammond
1951,
pp.
79-80).
This led to conflicts with the
Ministry of Agnculture which was concerned with ensuring prices and patterns
of production which suited farmers. The Ministry of Agnculture wanted to increase
prices and maintain livestock production whereas the Ministry of Food wanted
to limit price increases and push farmers into increasing production of cereals and
potatoes
(CAB
i"l/l).
The Cabinet rejected the Ministry of Agriculture's views and
supported the restructuring of prices in order to encourage the production of food
for direct human consumption.
Consumer interests
also
appeared to have an impact on the issue of nutrition.
The government had to ensure that the population received
a
nutritional diet despite
the reduction in food available. Therefore food production policy became much
more concerned with the nutritional aspects
of
diet. The
laissez-faire
approach of
the pre-war years was replaced by what Hammond
(1951,
p.
218)
refers
to
as
a
'revolution in the attitude of the British state towards the feeding of its citizens.'
The government scientifically determined the
best
diet available in the circumstances
and rec6gnized its role in ensuring that the public obtained this food.
This change in view which originated as a result of wartime necessity was
intended to be the basis of post-war policy. At the Hot Springs Conference of
1944
the British government agreed with other governments that a permanent
organization for food and agriculture should be set up. They also acknowledged
that governments should undertake to try to improve the diet and food resources
and
initiate national nutritional organizations (Hammond
1951,
p.
360).
The
government accepted that long-term policy should derive from the principle that
the natural and economic advantages of the country determines the farming system
adopted. On this basis nutritional food should
be
produced, the farming system
should maintain soil fertility and there should be protection from erosion
(m
(Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries)
531171).
The government recogized that
because it has a role in
ensuring
a
nutritious diet, the structure of agriculture should
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