Risk Analysis and Human Behavior

17

STICKY DECISIONS

Peanut butter in a time of Salmonella

Gülbanu Kaptan and Baruch Fischhoff

We present a consumer-focused perspective on creating communications regarding potentially contaminated foods. It is illustrated with decisions that might have faced US consumers during the 2009 recalls of peanut and pistachio products. The example shows how knowledge about test results and regulatory processes might be made more useful to consumers.

December 12, 2008

A prudent, informed consumer is about to open a jar of peanut butter. It is one of her favorite foods. Mostly, she loves the taste, but she also knows it as a cheap, healthy food—although she is a little fuzzy on those details (Griel et al. 2004; Jiang et al. 2002; Tsai et al. 2004). Like ...