This book examines the economic incentives for food safety in the private marketplace and how
public actions have helped shape those incentives. Noted contributors analyze alternative
public health protection efforts and the benefits and costs associated with these actions to
understand: why an excess of foodborne illness occurs what policies have worked best how
regulations have evolved what the path forward to better control of pathogens in the U.S. and
the international food supply chain might look like While the first third of the book builds an
economic framework the remaining chapters apply economics to specific food safety issues.
Numerous chapters explore economic decision making within individual companies revealing the
trade-offs of the costs of food safety systems to comply with regulations vs. non-compliance
which carries costs of possible penalties reputation damage legal liability suits and sales
reduction. Pathogen control costs are examined in both the short run and long run. The book's
unique application of economic theory to food safety decision making in both the public and
private sectors makes it a key resource for food safety professionals in academia government
industry and consumer groups around the world. In addition to Benefit Cost Analysis and
economic incentives other economic concepts are applied to food safety supply chains such as
principal-agent theory and the economics of information. Authors provide real world examples
from Farm-to-Fork to showcase these economic concepts throughout the book.
