266 research outputs found
Regulating food nanotechnologies: Ethical and political challenges
No full textWhilst recognizing the need to tackle food nanotechnology risks, the EU has so far laid down scant regulatory provisions, allowing new nano products to enter the food market freely, thus depriving consumers of their right to be informed and hence to choose. After a brief presentation of the potential risks of food nanotechnologies, the paper explores the connections between neoliberalism, food nanotechnology innovation and the regulatory process, unveiling the power struggles and the ethical stances that lie beyond the EU regulatory choices. The main conclusion is that, in order for the benefits of new technologies to outweigh the costs, it is necessary to acknowledge the political issues which are at stake and allow the regulatory process to be dictated by deontological rather than utilitarian ethical principles. Moreover, direct forms of regulation should be put in place, such as pre-market authorization, mandatory labelling and the establishment of a public register of products and producers
Food system digitalization and power shifts
No full textThe article provides new insights into the assessment of food system digitalization by analyzing how the entire process is mainly power-driven rather than the outcome of fair competition among alternative technological patterns. It focuses on the power forces that have accelerated the digital revolution in the food system and how this revolution is enabling certain subjects to exercise old and new forms of power in the economic, political, and geopolitical spheres. The analysis begins with a brief review of food digital technologies and how the existing literature has discussed their possible benefits and risks. It then focuses on the role of agenda power in promoting digitalization and on hegemonic power as the most important form of power produced by digitalization. The aim of the study is to offer a new perspective, based on the analysis of shifts from one form of political power to another, to better analyze the political issues raised by food system digitalization. The results suggest that to resist the negative aspects of digitalization, it is necessary to transform covert conflicts into overt ones and to understand the mechanisms through which the exercise of power blocks the transition from awareness of conflicts to political action
Innovation trajectories and sustainability in the food system
No full textThe goal of the study is to answer the question of whether the current processes of technological change and innovation within the agri-food system could help to increase its sustainability. Four strands of literature are used to unveil the nexus between sustainability and innovation: models of technical change and innovation, sustainability definitions, agroecology as a science and political movement, and the conceptualization of food regimes. The results indicate that innovation processes in the system follow two innovation trajectories, leading to two different food regimes, with opposite effects on sustainability. Since market forces push towards the less sustainable regime, adequate interventions are required in order to assure the sustainability of the system
Framing Political Issues in Food System Transformative Changes
No full textThe paper addresses political issues related to policy interventions for food system sustainability. It presents the results of a literature review, which explores how the concept of power has been used so far by scholars of food system dynamics. Articles numbering 116 were subjected to an in-depth qualitative analysis, which allowed the identification of three main strands of the literature with respect to food and power issues: (1) marketing and industrial organisation literature, dealing with the economic power exercised by economic actors in contexts of noncompetitive market structures; (2) articles addressing the power issue from a political economy perspective and by using an interdisciplinary approach; (3) heterogenous studies. The results of the review witness a growing interest for the analysis of food systems, political issues, and the need of a wider use of analytical tools and concepts offered by social sciences for the study of power in sustainability policy design
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