The economics of food safety
Abstract
Discusses the financial implications of maintaining acceptable levels of food safety. The case of BSE is used as an example ‐ loss of export market, fall in domestic sales, changes in consumption, large expenditure, cost of practice changes in rearing and slaughtering animals. There is a trade‐off between safety and costs. How much safety can be expected? There must be an optimum level of safety. There are few ways in which a market economy can “fail” in providing the optimum ‐ asymmetry in knowledge of risks; aspects of food safety which are public goods; social costs of food safety and the divergence between objective scientific evidence and consumer perception.
Keywords
Citation
Ritson, C. and Wei Mai, L. (1998), "The economics of food safety", Nutrition & Food Science, Vol. 98 No. 5, pp. 253-259. https://doi.org/10.1108/00346659810224163
Publisher
:MCB UP Ltd
Copyright © 1998, MCB UP Limited