Food Safety Economics: Incentives for a Safer Food Supply (Food Microbiology and Food Safety)

This book examines the economic incentives for food safety in the private marketplace and how public actions have helped shape those incentives. Noted contributors analyze alternative public health protection efforts and the benefits and costs associated with these actions to understand: * why an excess of foodborne illness occurs * what policies have worked best * how regulations have evolved * what the path forward to better control of pathogens in the U.S. and the international food supply chain might look like While the first third of the book builds an economic framework, the remaining chapters apply economics to specific food safety issues. Numerous chapters explore economic decision making within individual companies, revealing the trade-offs of the costs of food safety systems to comply with regulations, vs. non-compliance which carries costs of possible penalties, reputation damage, legal liability suits, and sales reduction. Pathogen control costs are examined in both the short run and long run. The book's unique application of economic theory to food safety decision making in both the public and private sectors makes it a key resource for food safety professionals in academia, government, industry, and consumer groups around the world. In addition to Benefit/Cost Analysis and economic incentives, other economic concepts are applied to food safety supply chains, such as, principal-agent theory and the economics of information. Authors provide real world examples, from Farm-to-Fork, to showcase these economic concepts throughout the book. Front Matter ....Pages i-x Front Matter ....Pages 1-1 Overview of Food Safety Economics (Diogo M. Souza Monteiro, Tanya Roberts, Walter J. Armbruster, Derrick Jones)....Pages 3-12 Pathogen Information Is the Basic Problem for Economic Incentives (Tanya Roberts, Robert L. Scharff)....Pages 13-28 Economics of Food Chain Coordination and Food Safety Standards: Insights from Agency Theory (Diogo M. Souza Monteiro)....Pages 29-47 Benefit/Cost Analysis in Public and Private Decision-Making in the Meat and Poultry Supply Chain (Tanya Roberts)....Pages 49-66 Economic Impact of Posting Restaurant Ratings: UK and US Experience (Derrick Jones)....Pages 67-80 Front Matter ....Pages 81-81 Burden and Risk Assessment of Foodborne Disease (Brecht Devleesschauwer, Robert L. Scharff, Barbara B. Kowalcyk, Arie H. Havelaar)....Pages 83-106 The Global Burden of Foodborne Disease (Brecht Devleesschauwer, Juanita A. Haagsma, Marie-Josée J. Mangen, Robin J. Lake, Arie H. Havelaar)....Pages 107-122 The Economic Burden of Foodborne Illness in the United States (Robert L. Scharff)....Pages 123-142 Improving Burden of Disease and Source Attribution Estimates (Barbara B. Kowalcyk, Sara M. Pires, Elaine Scallan, Archana Lamichhane, Arie H. Havelaar, Brecht Devleesschauwer)....Pages 143-174 Front Matter ....Pages 175-175 Economic Incentives for Innovation: E. coli O157:H7 in US Beef (Tanya Roberts)....Pages 177-207 Benefits and Costs of Reducing Human Campylobacteriosis Attributed to Consumption of Chicken Meat in New Zealand (Peter van der Logt, Sharon Wagener, Gail Duncan, Judi Lee, Donald Campbell, Roger Cook et al.)....Pages 209-230 Sweden Led Salmonella Control in Broilers: Which Countries Are Following? (Tanya Roberts, Johan Lindblad)....Pages 231-249 The Role of Surveillance in Promoting Food Safety (Robert L. Scharff, Craig Hedberg)....Pages 251-265 Economic Rationale for US Involvement in Public-Private Partnerships in International Food Safety Capacity Building (Clare Narrod, Xiaoya Dou, Cara Wychgram, Mark Miller)....Pages 267-291 The Political Economy of US Antibiotic Use in Animal Feed (Walter J. Armbruster, Tanya Roberts)....Pages 293-322 The Role of Consumer Advocacy in Strengthening Food Safety Policy (Patricia Buck)....Pages 323-358 A Critical Appraisal of the Impact of Legal Action on the Creation of Incentives for Improvements in Food Safety in the United States (Denis Stearns)....Pages 359-385 Front Matter ....Pages 387-387 International Food Safety: Economic Incentives, Progress, and Future Challenges (Tanya Roberts)....Pages 389-397 Back Matter ....Pages 399-411 This book examines the economic incentives for food safety in the private marketplace and how public actions have helped shape those incentives. Noted contributors analyze alternative public health protection efforts and the benefits and costs associated with these actions to understand: why an excess of foodborne illness occurs what policies have worked best how regulations have evolved what the path forward to better control of pathogens in the U.S. and the international food supply chain might look like While the first third of the book builds an economic framework, the remaining chapters apply economics to specific food safety issues. Numerous chapters explore economic decision making within individual companies, revealing the trade-offs of the costs of food safety systems to comply with regulations, vs. non-compliance which carries costs of possible penalties, reputation dam age, legal liability suits, and sales reduction. Pathogen control costs are examined in both the short run and long run. The book's unique application of economic theory to food safety decision making in both the public and private sectors makes it a key resource for food safety professionals in academia, government, industry, and consumer groups around the world. In addition to Benefit/Cost Analysis and economic incentives, other economic concepts are applied to food safety supply chains, such as, principal-agent theory and the economics of information. Authors provide real world examples, from Farm-to-Fork, to showcase these economic concepts throughout the book