As authorities report soaring numbers of recall and safety reports, their effectiveness in terms of consumer safety seems to be diminishing
Ironically, as the EU and UK regulatory and advisory authorities report soaring numbers of recall and safety reports in the last year, their effectiveness in terms of consumer safety seems to be diminishing.
According to a recent survey by European risk management and PR organisation Razor, UK consumers are increasingly turned off by product recalls and food scares – with almost 70% of shoppers saying they are hardly aware of national product alerts and fewer than 20% trusting the manufacturer or retailer to give them accurate information.
In June, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a new advisory committee designed to counsel the agency on how to strengthen the communication of risks and benefits of FDA-regulated products to the public. The Risk Communication Advisory Committee will have a three-part role: help the FDA better understand the communication needs and priorities of the general public; advise the FDA on the development of strategic plans to communicate product risks and benefits; and make recommendations to the FDA on what current research suggests about crafting risk and benefit messages, as well as how to most effectively communicate specific product information to vulnerable audiences.
