Globalization of the U.S. Food Supply: Reconciling Product Safety Regulation with Free Trade

Abstract

The pet food recall in the spring of 2007, its aftermath, and other reports of contaminated food imports have had an adverse affect on the American shopper's confidence in the safety of the nation's food supply. This paper argues that the responsibility for ensuring that imported food entering the United States is safe must be shared by the public and private sectors. The limited resources of public regulation need to be focused on high-risk, imported food products from countries that have weak export food safety regimes. Furthermore, public regulation must emphasize private sector incentives encouraging implementation of state-of-the-art food safety management programs.