Tracing the unintended consequences of food safety regulations for community food security and sustainability: small-scale meat processing in British Columbia |
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Authors: | Christiana Miewald Sally Hodgson Aleck Ostry |
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Institution: | 1. Centre for Sustainable Community Development, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada;2. Department of Geography, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, Canada |
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Abstract: | In 2004, as a response to the discovery of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy in Canadian cattle and other food scares, the Province of British Columbia (BC) developed a comprehensive set of meat inspection regulations, increasing the requirements for food safety infrastructure. Through a series of interviews with farmers and stakeholders, we highlight some of the unintended consequences for community food security and sustainability that resulted from these stringent safety regulations in rural and remote communities in BC. These include the loss of meat production and processing capacities as well as the erosion of local food practices and traditions through the criminalisation of farm-gate sales. We suggest that food safety regulations intended to protect consumer health may result in negative effects for community food security and rural sustainability and that these consequences should be accounted for when developing food policy. |
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Keywords: | community food security rural sustainability rural and remote communities food safety policy |
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