This volume analyses the food safety reforms adopted in Japan, Europe and the USA in the aftermath of the BSE crisis, seeking to explain the divergences in such reforms through the so-called 'cultural perception of risk'.

A study that explores the reasons behind the different responses of the legal systems of Europe, Japan and the USA in coping BSE, one of the major food safety crises. It examines the role that culture plays in moulding the process of legal change.

'This book is a path-breaking and highly topical study of the cultural contexts of the regulation of safety.' David Nelken, Cardiff University, UK 'Why have different nations reacted so diversely to "mad cow" disease? Ferrari's answer is in fact a single, elegant solution to a host of long-standing theoretical puzzles in economics, political science, sociology, and law. His account of culture and risk will provoke debate and deepen insight in all these fields.' Dan Kahan, Yale Law School, USA