Risk Assessment, Economic Analysis, and Foodborne Illness Regulations

IRAC-sponsored Public Conference
November 16, 2007
ERS, 1800 M St NW, Waugh Auditorium (enter 3rd floor, South tower), Washington DC

While risk analysis traditionally separates risk assessment from cost-benefit analysis, incorporating economics into risk assessment can improve the selction of viable pathogen control options for policymakers in the public and private sectors. This conference explores how economists can make greater contributions to risk assessments, including new methods of valuing the public health protection benefits of pathogen control in the food supply-chain. The objectives of the meeting are:

  1. To introduce the concept of integrating risk assessment and cost benefit analysis.
  2. Using this integration, to look at recent advances in valuation for food risks.
  3. To examine economic incentives in the public and private sectors and how they contribute to safer food
  4. To hear what policymakers and risk analysts in the public and private sectors think about economic incentives and the new economic valuation methodologies