Part Two: Consequences of Inaction

In December 2004. USDA's Economic Research Service released a report titled, "The Economics Of Food Safety: The Case of Green Onions and Hepatitis A Outbreaks." If there's one thing the report indicated, according to the authors, it's that incentives for growers to adopt additional food safety practices are somewhat week.

Here's an abstract for the report.
Using the example of recent foodborne illness outbreaks in the U.S. associated with green onions from Mexico, this report examines the economics of food safety. Incentives for growers to adopt additional food safety practices are somewhat weak. Because of asymmetric information problems, produce grown with more food safety practices does not receive higher prices. Growers that adopt more food safety practices do so to maintain markets and to reduce risk. Results from a survey before the outbreaks provide a view of the incentives for adopting more food safety practices. Interviews with growers after the outbreaks indicate how the costs of an outbreak vary depending on the food safety practices growers had already adopted. According to growers, the market impact lasted one to four months. Policy responses by growers, retailers and foodservice buyers, and governments conclude the report.

For a complete version of the report, click here, or copy the following link:
http://www.ers.usda.gov/Publications/VGS/Nov04/VGS30501/