A Theory-guided Study of the Role of Food Workers in U.S. Food Safety

• In Event: 051 - Section on Sociological Practice and Public Sociology Paper Session. Meeting the Challenges of Inequality through Sociological Practice

Abstract

Every year, approximately 48 million Americans become sick, 128,000 are hospitalized, and 3,000 die from foodborne disease (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2012). Though research identifies diverse factors associated with foodborne outbreaks, one of the most common is worker health, hygiene, and food handling behaviors (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2011). Research exploring social determinants of health indicates a role for social and occupational context in shaping these worker-related risks. Despite this relationship, food workers represent a structurally vulnerable population that experiences universally poor working conditions. The proposed qualitative study aims to describe how we account for the role of workers in food safety and risk. It explores worker-related regulations that implement the 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act: unprecedented federal action to improve food safety in the US. The analysis is guided by theory on social determinants of health, which provides a useful framework for exploring regulations in light of the socio-structural vulnerabilities, such as poor working conditions, that put worker health and food at risk. This study may begin to change the food safety conversation by applying sociological knowledge to assist in understanding the impact of macrosocial inequality on workers, food safety, and public health.

Author

• Megan L Clayton, Johns Hopkins University