Food-safety test performance and public disclosure: The value of information in encouraging improvements in food safety in the chicken-slaughter industry

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of changes in the regulatory standards enforced by the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service on the Salmonella test performance of chicken-slaughter establishments. Regulatory changes include open disclosure of establishments with poor performance on Salmonella tests and rigorous Salmonella standards. Empirical results show that public disclosure of establishments with mediocre or poor levels of performance on Salmonella tests led to a substantial drop in Salmonella levels over the 2008−2010 period, which allowed FSIS to later reduce its tolerance for acceptable levels of Salmonella in chicken by 50 percent.