Bovine spongiform encephalopathy was at the forefront of establishing food safety as a public issue. A period of institutional change resulting from pressure from numerous initiatives is examined here. The description of the various configurations throughout Europe offers an understanding of the distance created between the reality of the risks built into government mechanisms and the reality of the risks as seen by other initiatives. These distancing activities are analyzed in the light of issues connected with any kind of risk management, notably when it is a collective matter of life and death.