{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,6]],"date-time":"2026-01-06T02:10:44Z","timestamp":1767665444977,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":29,"publisher":"BMJ","issue":"7","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["J Epidemiol Community Health"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2007,7]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>An outline of the \u201crisk society\u201d thesis of the German social theorist Ulrich Beck is given, and some points that he has taken from food safety examples are discussed. The potential for exploring the viability and utility of the thesis, via a comparative study of historical food safety episodes is illustrated through an account and discussion of the large corned beef-associated typhoid outbreak which occurred in 1964 in Aberdeen, Scotland. The outcome of the Aberdeen affair, in terms of public and political interest in food safety, and impact on the official food safety system, is compared with the outcome and impact of the series of food safety episodes of the 1980s and 1990s. The interactions between the latter episodes and the new food movement, the proactive responses of corporate interests, and the dramatic changes in the food safety regime represented by the formation of the Food Standards Agency in Britain, are contrasted with the relative lack of impact of the Aberdeen outbreak. Despite criticisms of Beck\u2019s thesis, this comparative study highlights, in particular, the value of his concept of \u201csubpolitics\u201d, and his expectation that the transition to risk society will involve the emergence of new social institutions. Such insights may help orientate epidemiologists and community health specialists who are currently active in food safety and regulation.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1136\/jech.2006.046417","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2007,6,14]],"date-time":"2007-06-14T02:34:40Z","timestamp":1181788480000},"page":"566-570","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":6,"title":["Food panics in history: corned beef, typhoid and \u201crisk society\u201d"],"prefix":"10.1136","volume":"61","author":[{"given":"David F","family":"Smith","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"239","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2007,6,13]]},"reference":[{"key":"2025100304405494000_61.7.566.1","unstructured":"Beck U. Risikogesellschaft: Auf dem Weg in eine andere Moderne. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp, 1986."},{"key":"2025100304405494000_61.7.566.2","unstructured":"Beck U. Risk society towards a new modernity. London: Sage, 1992."},{"key":"2025100304405494000_61.7.566.3","unstructured":"Beck U, Giddens A, Lash S. Reflexive modernization. Cambridge: Polity, 1994."},{"key":"2025100304405494000_61.7.566.4","unstructured":"Beck U. Ecological politics in an age of risk. Cambridge: Polity, 1995."},{"key":"2025100304405494000_61.7.566.5","unstructured":"Beck U. World risk society. London: Polity, 1999."},{"key":"2025100304405494000_61.7.566.6","unstructured":"Lupton D. Risk. London: Routledge, 1999."},{"key":"2025100304405494000_61.7.566.7","unstructured":"Mythen G. Ulrich Beck: A critical introduction to the risk society. London: Pluto, 2004."},{"key":"2025100304405494000_61.7.566.8","first-page":"79","volume":"20","year":"2003","journal-title":"Theory Cult & Soc"},{"key":"2025100304405494000_61.7.566.9","first-page":"377","volume":"8","year":"2004","journal-title":"J Risk Res"},{"key":"2025100304405494000_61.7.566.10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Smith D F, Diack H L, Pennington T H, et al. Food poisoning, policy and policy: corned beef and typhoid in the 1960s. London: Boydell and Brewer, 2005.","DOI":"10.1515\/9781846153952"},{"key":"2025100304405494000_61.7.566.11","unstructured":"Adam B. Timescapes of modernity: the environment and invisible hazards. London: Routledge, 1998."},{"key":"2025100304405494000_61.7.566.12","unstructured":"van Zwanenberg P, Millstone E. Mad cow disease 1980s\u20132000: how reassurances undermined precaution. In: European Environment Agency, ed Late lessons from early warnings: the precautionary principle 1896\u20132000, Copenhagen: EEA 2001:157\u201367."},{"key":"2025100304405494000_61.7.566.13","unstructured":"Ferri\u00e8res M. Sacred cow, mad cow: a history of food fears. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005."},{"key":"2025100304405494000_61.7.566.14","unstructured":"MacQueen I. Typhoid in Bully Tin. Press and Journal 27 May 1964:1a."},{"key":"2025100304405494000_61.7.566.15","unstructured":"Diack L, Smith D F. The media and the management of a food crisis: Aberdeen\u2019s typhoid outbreak in 1964. In: Berridge V, Loughlin K, eds. Medicine, the market and the mass media. London: Routledge, 2005:79\u201394."},{"key":"2025100304405494000_61.7.566.16","unstructured":"MacQueen I. The 6lb tin that started it all. Press and Journal. 30 May 1964: 1e, 4f,."},{"key":"2025100304405494000_61.7.566.17","unstructured":"Ministry corned beef scandal. 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