Fazil A, Rajic A, Sanchez J, McEwen S
Public Health Agency of Canada, Laboratory for Foodborne Zoonoses, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
J Food Prot. 2008 Nov;71(11):2323-33. doi: 10.4315/0362-028x-71.11.2323.
In the food safety arena, the decision-making process can be especially difficult. Decision makers are often faced with social and fiscal pressures when attempting to identify an appropriate balance among several choices. Concurrently, policy and decision makers in microbial food safety are under increasing pressure to demonstrate that their policies and decisions are made using transparent and accountable processes. In this article, we present a multi-criteria decision analysis approach that can be used to address the problem of trying to select a food safety intervention while balancing various criteria. Criteria that are important when selecting an intervention were determined, as a result of an expert consultation, to include effectiveness, cost, weight of evidence, and practicality associated with the interventions. The multi-criteria decision analysis approach we present is able to consider these criteria and arrive at a ranking of interventions. It can also provide a clear justification for the ranking as well as demonstrate to stakeholders, through a scenario analysis approach, how to potentially converge toward common ground. While this article focuses on the problem of selecting food safety interventions, the range of applications in the food safety arena is truly diverse and can be a significant tool in assisting decisions that need to be coherent, transparent, and justifiable. Most importantly, it is a significant contributor when there is a need to strike a fine balance between various potentially competing alternatives and/or stakeholder groups.
在食品安全领域，决策过程可能格外困难。决策者在试图在多种选择之间找到适当平衡时，常常面临社会和财政压力。与此同时，微生物食品安全方面的政策制定者和决策者面临着越来越大的压力，需要证明他们的政策和决策是通过透明且可问责的流程做出的。在本文中，我们提出一种多标准决策分析方法，可用于解决在平衡各种标准的同时选择食品安全干预措施的问题。经过专家咨询，确定在选择干预措施时重要的标准包括有效性、成本、证据权重以及与干预措施相关的实用性。我们提出的多标准决策分析方法能够考虑这些标准并得出干预措施的排名。它还可以为该排名提供清晰的理由，并通过情景分析方法向利益相关者展示如何潜在地达成共识。虽然本文重点关注选择食品安全干预措施的问题，但食品安全领域的应用范围确实多种多样，并且可以成为协助做出连贯、透明和合理决策的重要工具。最重要的是，当需要在各种潜在相互竞争的替代方案和/或利益相关者群体之间达成微妙平衡时，它是一个重要的助力因素。
