Keynote Speaker
Peter Raspor
Professor Emeritus
University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Peter Raspor was born in 1954 in Dolga Poljana, Slovenia. He received his graduate diploma in food technology in Ljubljana (1983), PhD in biotechnology (1987) at Faculty of Food Technology and biotechnology in Zagreb and graduated postdoctoral studies at London Labatt Institute (1989). In 1989, he become assistant professor in Biotechnology and Industrial Microbiology and in 1922 he become associate professor. In 1996, he become professor and in 2021 professor emeritus. He established post-graduate biotechnology study at UL (1994); undergraduate biotechnology study at BF (2004). He supervised 55 dissertations, 18 master's degrees, 145 bachelors, many of them being awarded. He was the director of many projects in the field of food, industrial microbiology and biotechnology, and food safety. SICRIS lists 1866 bibliographic units, 221 scientific articles, over 100 invited lectures, 3 honorary doctorates and 3 top state awards for his work. He helped set up the LUI incubator at UL and 5 biotech companies. He was involved with ISO and international audits in higher education. He led the adoption of two declarations: one on microbiology, in 2004, and another one on food, nutrition and technology, in 2008. Additionally, he set up three congressional networks that began their journey in Ljubljana, CEFood 2002, FEMS 2004 and EFFoST 2008.
Title: Risk communication when Food Contamination enters virtual society
Abstract: This paper has the aim to present state of the art in the area of unique communication environment when foodborne illness starts due to contamination with food and request very specific behaviour and reaction of managers of food supply chains towards consumers. Crisis communication is marked by three distinct phases: pre-crisis, acute crisis, and post-crisis. The pre-crisis stage is marked with messages intended to mitigate harm and encourage preparation for the crisis. Communication in the acute phase of a crisis involves disseminating instructing and adjusting information to help individuals cope with the crisis event. Finally, post-crisis communication provides an opportunity for communication after activities have returned to normal, specifically providing an opportunity to explain organizational learning and renewal (e.g., what led to the contamination, what is being done to ensure that another contamination will not occur, and information about their turned safety of the contaminated product). Risk Perception Model and Good Practices for Risk Communication seeks for solutions which should not be restricted to negative messages and warnings but should include positive ‘educational messages’. Consequently, is necessary to respect all good practices in food supply chains/ nets and at least major Rules of Risk Communication i.e.: Accept and involve public as a legitimate partner, Listen to the public’s specific concerns, coordinate and collaborate with other credible sources. Currently majority of communication is going via virtual channels. This development opened totally new challenges society has to cope with.
*Prof. Dr. Peter Raspor, Dr.h.c.mult., Uni. Dipl. Eng.
Emeritus Professor of Microbiology and Biotechnology, University of Ljubljana
