Food safety and international competitiveness: The case of beef

Book abstract:

As the safety of food continues to be a major concern of consumers across the world and therefore a priority for producers and distributors, this book examines the specific example of the food safety in the beef industry in the USA, Canada, the UK and Australia.

Following a broad discussion of whom is responsible for food safety and the institutional arrangements in place, the book examines the experiences and food safety problems facing each country in turn, beginning with the United States of America. Each country study examines in particular the drivers for change, the possibility of a socially optimal approach to food safety, the relative security of consumers relying on the industry to police itself and the implications for competitiveness and world trade. The following two chapters bring together the issues raised in the country studies and discuss the methods open to countries for improving food safety as well as the successes so far. The final chapter of the book discusses the BSE crisis which resurfaced in Europe in 2001 and examines the European Commission's White Paper on Food Safety.

This book will be useful for students, academics and practitioners across a wide range of disciplines including food economics, public health and animal and veterinary science.

John Spriggs works in the school of agriculture at the Charles Stuart University in Wagga Wagga, Australia and Grant Isaac works in the college of commerce at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada.