Exploration of the fipronil in egg contamination incident in the Netherlands using the Functional Resonance Analysis Method

Following the 2017 fipronil egg contamination incident in the European Union, improvements in safety management continue to be necessary, particularly for regulatory, preventive, and control activities. Drawing from the Dutch and European legislation, and the use of the Functional Resonance Analysis Method (FRAM), the aim of the study was to explore the regulatory framing of the elimination of red mites on poultry farms, the compliance of actual events in 2017 with these hygiene standards and regulations in order to reconcile actual practices with policy directives. The study considers the difference between policy implementation for work-as-imagined and the tasks undertaken in practice i.e., ‘work-as-done’. This allows for assessment and analysis of the gap between pre-defined hygiene policy and actual practice and allows for a systemic approach rather than a causal approach to examine the public health incident. The study concludes that it is important for high level policy makers to comprehend the challenges and barriers faced by those implementing policy, and how this could potentially mean that policy in practice is not aligned with what was originally intended. The presented analysis outlines the potential of the FRAM in assessing complex food systems to support a public health investigation of incidents, and to design practical and realistic food safety policies leading to higher levels of stakeholder compliance and improved safety management.