ABSTRACT
To implement social marketing for food safety one needs a task force under the direction of an individual experienced in social mobilization and at least somewhat informed about the food safety problem. The need of effective and qualified leadership cannot be overemphasized. Virtually any well-conceived plan is likely to be more effective than a hit-and-miss approach to problem solving. Such a plan can be constructed by social marketers to deal with the worldwide dilemma of food spoilage and to ameliorate its harmful effects. The plan cannot work, however, without the collaboration of various sectors in any given economy—for example, government, business, education, the church, and law enforcement agencies. Strategic market planning must consider "social prices," payments to be made by consumers quite apart from monetary fees. These include such sacrifices as time, effort, and change in life-style. At the heart of the marketing plan is its communication component. The campaign should be based on a multimedia, multimethod, multiapproach strategy.
