Background
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Global food trade is expanding due to improvements in
transportation, infrastructure, and marketing networks as well as
increased consumer demand. Increases in per capita income and
population also have contributed to worldwide expansion in food
trade. Along with growth in international food trade, food safety
has become progressively important to industry, consumers, and
policymakers.
The globalization of the food supply means new food-safety risks
can be introduced into countries (for example, emerging bacteria),
previously controlled risks can be reintroduced into countries (for
example, cholera), and contaminated food can be spread across
greater geographic areas, causing illness worldwide. Food-safety
concerns may reduce demand for certain products, alter
international food trade patterns, and limit market access for some
exporters. Food-safety issues present challenges for policymakers
to guard and/or enhance national food supplies.
Information about the safety of imported foods is limited by
available data. To better understand this issue, ERS researchers
analyzed U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) refusals of food
import shipments for 1998-2004 by food industry group and by type
of violation. The study found that import refusals highlight
food-safety problems that appear to recur in trade and in locations
where FDA has focused its import alerts, examinations, and other
monitoring efforts. The data do not necessarily reflect the actual
distribution of risk in foods. However, the data show that some
food industries and types of violations are consistent sources of
problems over time. The three food industry groups with the most
violations were vegetables (20.6 percent of total violations), fish
and seafood (20.1 percent), and fruits (11.7 percent). Violations
observed over the entire time period include sanitary issues in
seafood and fruit products, unsafe pesticide residues in
vegetables, and unregistered processes for canned food products in
all three industries. (see Food Safety and Imports: An Analysis of FDA
Food-Related Import Refusal Reports).
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In an earlier study, ERS researchers reported on how food safety
regulations and the perception of risk are different among
countries and how this can lead to persistent trade frictions and
even reduce food trade. These differences may also lead to
increased dialogue between countries, resulting in improved food
safety systems. Although little disruption to trade has occurred
for food safety reasons (considering the total volume of food
trade), trade issues or crises related to food safety are wide
ranging. These issues and crises challenge policymakers and
industries to both protect domestic food supplies and nurture
international markets. Meanwhile, consumers in developed countries
are demanding safer food. Risk reduction measures and quality
certification programs can pre-empt food safety crises and also
better position exporters in emerging overseas markets. However,
coherency between trade and food safety goals requires public
intervention and investment and/or private costs (see International Trade and
Food Safety: Economic Theory and Case Studies and Food
Safety and International Trade--Research Briefs).
The study
"Food Safety and Trade: Regulations, Risks, and
Reconciliation,"
discusses how countries have good reasons for different food safety
regulations (e.g., different tastes and preferences, food safety
history, ability to pay for risk-reducing strategies). It also
discusses how countries tackle food safety risks both individually
and collectively through international organizations.