Pro-seminar in Food and Agricultural Standards

Food and agricultural standards (FAS) are often considered to be convenient, neutral, and benign means for handling issues of technical compatibility and for achieving common goods such as food safety, environmental protection, worker health and safety, and food quality. But standards are also shaped by political and strategic considerations and have significant ethical import. Standards define the criteria by which products, processes, and producers are judged on technical, economic, social, environmental, legal, and moral dimensions. And, without standards, our contemporary world simply could not exist!

• Strategic use of science and technology in the development and implementation of FAS
• Social, cultural, and political dynamics surrounding FAS development and implementation
• Ethical and value issues raised by FAS in domestic and international agrifood systems
• Participatory dimensions of FAS standards setting and enforcement
• Policies for accountable, transparent, and democratic FAS standards setting and enforcement processes.

This is an online course in which presentations (PowerPoint, video, audio, etc.), readings (PDF), and key discussion questions are offered electronically in topical modules via a dedicated course webpage. All required readings will be available on-line; no texts are required. The course is team-taught by instructors affiliated with the Institute for Food and Agricultural Standards (IFAS) at MSU, including: Lawrence Busch and Craig Harris (Sociology), James Bingen (CARRS), and Paul Thompson (Philosophy). The course also utilizes the wide range of expertise on agrifood issues available at MSU by incorporating web-based guest presentations on various issues pertaining to the development, implementation, and/or outcomes associated with agrifood standards throughout the vertical supply chain.

The course may be taken for advanced undergraduate or for graduate credit.

For further information contact John Stone, the FAS course facilitator, at: 517-355-2384, jvstone@msu.edu.