Three different economic studies were conducted dealing with health risk-reduced food, labelling issues, and food safety standards. The focus is on emerging issues from the perspective of consumers and the food industry.
In the first study, a dichotomous choice contingent valuation format (CVM) and choice experiments (CE) were applied to reveal the willingness to pay (WTP) of 240 consumers for safer chicken breast. The occurrence of the embedding effect is investigated. In the second study, a Vickrey auction was conducted to examine the WTP of 84 mothers and fathers for a quality assurance label on powdered infant milk formula. In the last study, product quality and safety aspects of bagged salad are discussed. The application of food safety standards on the retailer and manufacturer level is examined. Case studies were conducted in order to identify who is the driving force for the introduction and implementation of new food safety standards. Two suppliers of bagged salad, a retailer, and a logistics company participated in the study. 

These researchers study the impact of new information about food safety on subjects’ willingness-to-pay for food products, in an experimental setting. They elicit prices using either a second price auction or the Becker-DeGroot-Marschak procedure. There are three stages of bidding. In stage 1, subjects bid for products without any information. In stage 2, public information about health impact is provided. In stage 3, new certified products become available, and subjects bid then for non-certified and certified products. 

Food safety is of increasing importance in higher-income countries where consumers demand higher quality and safer food. They will do so through the market when information makes it possible. They will demand better assurances of safety through government regulations where externalities and health risks prevail. The microeconomics of this demand for increased food safety is discussed in terms of how it can lead to non-tariff barriers to trade that might ultimately be regulated by the GATT. The public goods nature of food safety is explored along a continuum of food quality characteristics for the purpose of identifying when government regulations are needed.

This dissertation is composed of three essays about timely food safety issues in the food and agribusiness marketing. In Chapter 1, responding to increasing customer attention to food attributes agribusinesses are employing novel product differentiation strategies. Using two product innovation databases, the researchers investigate claim use on labels in seven English speaking countries over the period 1980 to 2008. Then, based on manufacturer recommended selling prices and using US data (from 2002 to 2008) the researchers apply parametric and nonparametric hedonic methods to identify supply-side (agribusiness) valuations of chemical and microbiological claims in two food categories. Chapter 2 explores consumer reaction and attempt to personalized food recall notifications. Chapter 3 is centered on pet food recalls. 

In this paper, it is shown how economists have measured the costs of unsafe food. This gives a benchmark by which to measure the benefits of programs and policies that improve food safety—the benefits being the reduction in costs associated with unsafe food.

Within the sub-theme animal health and food safety economics, the impact of animal production on animal health, animal welfare and food safety in the entire animal production chain (including final consumption) is studied. Areas of attention are: (1) prevention and control measures against highly contagious diseases such as Foot-and-Mouth Disease, Classical Swine Fever and Avian Influenza, (2) production diseases at the level of the individual animal and herd, and (3) the implications of animal diseases on food safety and human health. Emphasis is on risk analysis and development of decision support tools within the broad economic context of decision making. This website provides resources in economics for these areas as well as plant health.

This paper focuses on the economic values associated with seafood safety. Data are provided on the production, trade and consumption of seafood as a worldwide food commodity. A review is provided of the market for seafood safety, the economic concepts of valuing seafood safety and estimation methods that can be used to assign monetary values for safer seafood. Practical approaches to valuing seafood safety which include measuring risks, data problems and policy issues are discussed. Issues covered include HACCP benefits and costs including how HACCP can affect seafood market structure. Available estimates of seafood HACCP implementation costs at the industry and firm level are summarized. The economic and policy issues of using HACCP to increase the safety of seafood are presented. Using HACCP as an international trade standard for insuring safe seafood is discussed, including the way impacts differ among developed versus developing countries. Different designs for seafood safety regulatory regimes also create different economic impacts among countries and the seafood industry. Recent studies valuing seafood safety are presented, including estimation techniques used, safety and quality assurances measured, willingness-to-pay by consumers for safer seafood and the effect of consumer education on seafood consumption. Research priorities for the future are suggested.

This paper examines the impact of food safety standards on processed food exports in developing countries. An intercountry cross-sectional econometric analysis of processed food exports in developing countries was undertaken. The Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standard (SPS) is incorporated into the model to capture the impact of food safety standards. 

This book is notable for its coverage of the entire range of food safety economics issues from "farm to table", including consumer issues, production supply chain coordination, and international trade. It is the first to provide a comprehensive look at emerging issues such as tracking and tracing, product liability, and the interface between risk assessment and economic analysis. The book is also notable for providing international perspectives on these issues from both the European Union and the United States. It is intended for technical specialists and policy makers in agricultural economics, food safety, or risk assessment.

In this chapter, the author briefly explores issues in how rational people might value a reduction in risk from food-borne pathogens and other food technologies, and economic methods to measure this value.

This paper provides an overview of developments in food safety policy in major industrial countries and of economic analysis of this policy. It describes the elements of a risk-based, farm-to-fork food safety system as it is emerging in OECD countries guided by discussions through Codex Alimentarius and traces its roots in the development of risk management policy in the United States. The goal of this paper is to provide a nontechnical introduction to food safety policy and economics for students, economists and others interested in food safety policy, but new to the field.

This chapter addresses the analysis of markets for food products that are differentiated by safety characteristics. The first part of the paper surveys the broad array of issues that are involved in food safety and the regulations that have been devised to address them. The next sections of the paper consider the analysis of the demand and supply of safety-differentiated products and the implications of alternative information regimes for market equilibrium. The final section of the paper considers the measurement of benefits and costs of food safety regulations in the context of recent efforts at regulatory impact assessment.

This is the first chapter of a book called "New Approaches to Food-Safety Economics (2003), a book that is notable for its coverage of the entire range of food safety economics issues from "farm to table", including consumer issues, production supply chain coordination, and international trade. It is the first to provide a comprehensive look at emerging issues such as tracking and tracing, product liability, and the interface between risk assessment and economic analysis. The book is also notable for providing international perspectives on these issues from both the European Union and the United States. It is intended for technical specialists and policy makers in agricultural economics, food safety, or risk assessment.

This paper aims to provide an overview of issues associated with the economics of food safety in developing countries. It is intended to highlight the major questions and concerns associated with an economic analysis of food safety issues, both generally and specifically in a developing country context. Thus, it provides an overview of these issues and highlights key references for readers that wish to explore these issues in greater depth. It assesses the burden imposed on developing countries, both in terms of rates of human morbidity and premature mortality and the economic and social costs imposed on developing societies.

RePEc (Research Papers in Economics) is a collaborative effort of hundreds of volunteers in 73 countries to enhance the dissemination of research in economics. The heart of the project is a decentralized database of working papers, journal articles and software components. All RePEc material is freely available. Participation in RePEc as a provider only involves the cost of your time in preparing and maintaining metadata describing your publications.

This site is housed by the Food Industry Center at the University of Minnesota. The site focuses on topics related to research in agriculture and applied economics. Here, it is possible to search for publications and submissions regarding many interests, including agribusiness, farm management, risk and uncertainty, international development, marketing, among others.

This report offers various perspectives on cost-benefit analysis of pre-harvest control options for farmers and consumers, specifically focusing on avoiding productions losses while minimizing public health risks associated with diseases and pathogens. Also included is a brief comparison of economic modeling in pre-harvest risk assessments and Animal Health Economics, Types of Economic Analysis, Types of Costs and Benefits, Costs and Benefits of Control and Intervention Options, and Two Examples of Pre-Harvest cost and Benefit. In addition, there is one appendix attached, which contains an article entitled "Two press-releases from the Swedish egg-producing company Svenska agg and links to website with more information".

This report describes an integrated scientific approach to supporting food safety decisions by utilizing veterinary and medical epidemiology, risk assessment for the farm-to-fork food chain, and agricultural and health economics. Included are discussions on the policy cycle, the food safety problem in general, prioritizing health impacts, and policy implementation. Also included are risk assessment models and data and a discussion on economics.

This presentation discusses Integrating Risk Assessment and Benefit-Cost Analysis. It was presented at the 2007 IRAC-sponsored Public Conference 'Risk Assessment, Economic Analysis, and Foodborne Illness Regulations'. All the agenda and presentation information can be found from this link.

Agenda and presentations of the IRAC-sponsored Public Conference "Risk Assessment, Economic Analysis, and Foodborne Illness Regulations" held November 16, 2007 in Washington DC. Presentations include 'Integrating Risk Assessment and Economics'/Williams, Richard; 'Economic Valuation Methods: COI, VSL, WTP & QALY'/McGartland, Al; 'Common Misperceptions of Cost/Benefit Analysis for Public and Private Decision Making'/McLaughlin, Cristina; 'New Willingness to Pay Estimates of the Demand for Food Safety'/Hammitt, James; 'Using COI and WTP Methods to Estimate the Societal Costs of Foodborne Illness'/Roberts, Tanya; 'Wrap-up Remarks'/Dearfield, Kerry; etc.

This report discusses that while the risk of contracting a foodborne illness from eating spinach is low, spinach and leafy greens have been associated with numerous outbreaks due to contamination with E. coli O157:H7. To reduce the risk of microbial contamination, many growers have adopted voluntary Food and Drug Administration guidelines (Good Agricultural Practices). The foodborne illness outbreak linked to spinach forced the California spinach and the broader leafy green industry to consider new approaches to food safety.

This database provides access to RePEc, a collection of on-line economics papers, journal articles, and software. Abstracts and bibliographic info are provided, as well as links to the full text for most documents. Free economics software is available for download