Julie A. Caswell

Food safety regulation: an overview of contemporary issues

Abstract This article discusses a number of issues that are influencing the evolution of food safety regulation in developed and, to a lesser extent, developing countries. Whilst not definitive, it aims to highlight those factors which are considered crucial to an understanding of contemporary food safety controls in both the public and private spheres. These issues include criteria applied to assess the need/justification for food safety regulation, relationships between public and private food safety control systems, alternative forms that public food safety regulation can take, strategic responses to food safety regulation, and the trade implications of national food safety controls. The article serves as an introduction to these issues, which are discussed at greater length in the other papers that make up this special issue of Food Policy .

How Quality Management Metasystems Are Affecting the Food Industry

The future competitiveness of the U.S. food industry depends on its ability to deliver high-quality products at competitive prices to domestic and international markets. Recent developments in the establishment and operation of quality management metasystems are having important effects on this competitiveness. Their use has the potential to enhance product quality, simplify contractual relationships, demonstrate compliance with regulations, and improve responsiveness to customers. Their use is also requiring novel internal organization and market linkages between firms.

Standards as Barriers Versus Standards as Catalysts: Assessing the Impact of HACCP Implementation on U.S. Seafood Imports

The United States mandated a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) food safety standard for seafood in 1997. Panel model results for the period 1990 to 2004 suggest that HACCP introduction had a negative and significant impact on overall seafood imports from the top 33 suppliers. While the effect for developed countries was positive, the negative HACCP effect for developing countries supports the view of “standards-as-barriers” versus ”standards-as-catalysts.” When the effect is analyzed at an individual country level a different perspective emerges. Regardless of development status, leading seafood exporters generally gained sales volume with the U.S., while most other smaller trading partners faced losses or stagnant sales.

Valuing the Benefits and Costs of Improved Food Safety and Nutrition

Assuring the quality of food products, especially their safety and nutrition levels, is an increasing focus for governments, companies, and international trade bodies. In choosing quality assurance programs, public and private decision‐makers must assess the benefits and costs of expected improvements in food safety and nutrition. This article discusses methods for measuring these benefits and costs as well as how these valuations are related to the mix of voluntary and mandatory quality management systems used in particular countries or trading blocs. These relationships are illustrated by a short case study of safety assurance systems for meat and poultry products.

A Test of Nutritional Quality Signaling in Food Markets Prior to Implementation of Mandatory Labeling

In May 1994, new nutrition labeling regulations went into effect in the United States requiring mandatory disclosure of information on the nutritional content of foods. This article uses Grossmans model of totally effective quality signaling to evaluate whether markets were effective in information provision prior to the new regulation. If markets were effective in providing information to consumers on the nutritional quality of foods the new regulation would be unnecessary. The results of the logistic model, where the probability of voluntary information disclosure is linked to the nutritional quality of food products and their prices, indicate that private quality signaling was not reliably at work in food markets prior to implementation of the mandatory nutrition labeling regulation. Copyright 2000, Oxford University Press.

The Impact of New Labeling Regulations on the Use of Voluntary Nutrient-Content and Health Claims by Food Manufacturers

The authors analyze the impact of the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act on the use of voluntary claims in 19 product categories between 1992 and 1999. The percentage of products that make nutrient-content claims decreased somewhat, and the major effect was a redistribution of claim activity among product categories. Products that make health and healthy claims increased, but these claims remained relatively rare.

Interaction Between Food Attributes in Markets: The Case of Environmental Labeling

Some consumers derive utility from using products produced with specific processes, such as environmentally friendly practices. Means of verifying these credence attributes, such as certification, are necessary for the market to function effectively. A substitute or complementary solution may exist when consumers perceive a relationship between a process attribute and other verifiable product attributes. We present a model where the level of search and experience attributes influences the likelihood of production of eco-friendly products. Our results suggest that the market success of ecofriendly food products requires a mix of environmental and other verifiable attributes that together signal credibility.

An evaluation of risk analysis as applied to agricultural biotechnology (with a case study of gmo labeling)

Governments have several policy instruments available for influencing the speed of adoption of agricultural biotechnology and the ultimate market share of products produced with its use. Differences between countries in rates of and conditions on regulatory approval of agricultural biotechnologies result from different approaches to the factors included in risk analysis andthe inclusion of different factors. Differences in labeling policy result from these same sources, as well as from different views of the consumers right to know about how a product was produced. An economic evaluation of the use of risk analysis to regulate agricultural biotechnology and products derived from it focuses on the welfare effects of the policy chosen relative to those of alternative policies that could have been chosen. The full application of benefit|cost analysis in different countries may indicate that different policies best suit their varying situations. lEconLit Subject Codes: K2, F1, Q1r

A Multifactorial Risk Prioritization Framework for Foodborne Pathogens

We develop a prioritization framework for foodborne risks that considers public health impact as well as three other factors (market impact, consumer risk acceptance and perception, and social sensitivity). Canadian case studies are presented for six pathogen-food combinations: Campylobacter spp. in chicken; Salmonella spp. in chicken and spinach; Escherichia coli O157 in spinach and beef; and Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat meats. Public health impact is measured by disability-adjusted life years and the cost of illness. Market impact is quantified by the economic importance of the domestic market. Likert-type scales are used to capture consumer perception and acceptance of risk and social sensitivity to impacts on vulnerable consumer groups and industries. Risk ranking is facilitated through the development of a knowledge database presented in the format of info cards and the use of multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) to aggregate the four factors. Three scenarios representing different stakeholders illustrate the use of MCDA to arrive at rankings of pathogen-food combinations that reflect different criteria weights. The framework provides a flexible instrument to support policymakers in complex risk prioritization decision making when different stakeholder groups are involved and when multiple pathogen-food combinations are compared.

UNIFYING TWO FRAMEWORKS FOR ANALYZING QUALITY AND QUALITY ASSURANCE FOR FOOD PRODUCTS

It is clear that quality and quality assurance have become more central features of international and domestic markets for food products. It is also clear that quality and quality assurance are nebulous terms and that a unified approach to analyzing them has not yet emerged. On the one hand, economic models emphasize the role of consumers’ ability to perceive quality in influencing how markets for quality work. On the other hand, marketing models emphasize a broader range of information and communication available to consumers in making quality judgments and purchase decisions. Here we propose to outline these two frameworks and then unify them in a model of quality and quality assurance that reaches from farm to table.