Governing Microbial and Metabolic Life: The Biopolitical Plate—A Critical Sociological Review of Institutional Food Systems During Outbreaks
Abstract
Background: Institutional food systems, particularly within hospitals and outbreak units, serve as critical nexuses of care and contagion during infectious disease outbreaks. Managed by multidisciplinary teams including Dietitians and Health Assistants, these systems balance nutritional healing with infection control, operating within a complex biopolitical framework.
Aim: This narrative review investigates the hospital food system as a sociomaterial vector for both infection and healing during outbreaks. It aims to synthesize evidence on pathogen surveillance, clinical roles in nutritional management, and the sociological governance of feeding protocols.
Methods: A comprehensive search of academic databases (PubMed, Scopus, Sociological Abstracts) was conducted for literature (2010-2024) on institutional foodservice, outbreaks, biopolitics, and clinical nutrition practices. Relevant studies were analyzed thematically.
Results: The review identifies persistent risks of foodborne and fomite transmission in outbreak settings, countered by evolving surveillance and protocolization. Nursing and dietetic practices are central to managing the tension between therapeutic diets and patient agency. Sociologically, outbreak responses manifest intensified biopolitical control, transforming feeding into a security practice that reconfigures space, ritual, and care.
Conclusion: The “biopolitical plate” encapsulates how institutional food becomes a site where biomedical power and microbial risk intersect. Future resilience requires integrating robust surveillance with ethically informed, patient-centered models that acknowledge food’s social dimensions.
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References
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Authors
Copyright (c) 2024 Obadiah Farg Albogami, Adel Ali Ali Harbi, Awatif Hamoud Alsolmi, Fahad Jaber Alfahadi, Mohammed Hassan Alfahadi, Aya Fayed Marzoq Alshamarayh, Hanan Saleh Abdallah Fakeeh, Nasser Mansour Nasser Bin Dhuwayhi, Nawaf Mofareh Muqhim Alotaibi, Ahmed Oliyan Mofreg Albanaqi, Talal Yahya Alrashdi, Abdullah Salem Abdullah Alammar
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