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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Andrew Donaldson, Dr Jane Midgley
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
© 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.This paper explores how transnational food supply chains are governed and secured through examining the 2013 horsemeat scandal, during which processed beef products were adulterated with horseflesh. Drawing on theories of governmentality and ignorance studies, it argues that the apparent ignorance among food businesses about their supply chains which this event exposed arises in response to a regulatory apparatus which renders businesses responsible for taking precautions only against foreseeable threats to food safety and authenticity. Limiting their knowledge of their supply chains therefore enables food businesses to control their ability to anticipate (and their liability for) crises. This paper highlights the role of strategic ignorance in rendering future events unforeseeable and ungovernable, and in mediating the politics of accountability and responsibility within anticipatory governmental apparatuses.
Author(s): Brice J, Donaldson A, Midgley J
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Economy and Society
Year: 2020
Volume: 49
Issue: 4
Pages: 619-641
Online publication date: 20/11/2020
Acceptance date: 02/04/2016
Date deposited: 18/12/2020
ISSN (print): 0308-5147
ISSN (electronic): 1469-5766
Publisher: Routledge
URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/03085147.2020.1781387
DOI: 10.1080/03085147.2020.1781387
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