Protezione del consumatore e rappresentazioni sociali : un'indagine empirica sul concetto di sicurezza alimentare

The article aims to explore the cognate dimensions, related to the different paradigms regarding the concept of food safety. This emerges from the analysis of public European policies involving consumer protection. The subjects of this study are the social representations of the concept of food safety, analyzed through the mythology of word associations analyzed by experts. The research proves that different cognitive representations (social and cultural) of the concepts of health protection correspond too many different ways of understanding consumer protection. The analysis offers a complex image of the interests at stake and defines the different strategies for evolution and interpretation of consumer’s needs by the system of analysis that operates in the areas of consumer protection. 280