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Food Safety: Setting and Enforcing Standards

In December 2001, the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a Texas district court decision blocking the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) from closing a beef processing plant that had failed a series of Salmonella tests. This court ruling is the latest development in the evolution of food safety policy for meats and poultry. Over the last decade, the federal government has adopted new approaches and set new kinds of safety standards for meat. But these actions have been controversial with both industry and consumers. How the disputes over setting and enforcing food safety standards are resolved will have important consequences for the food industry, food costs, and public health. This article will examine the economic implications of setting performance standards for food safety. It is argued that performance standards would improve the efficiency of meat safety regulation by encouraging processing firms to find the most cost-effective means of reducing hazards in the food supply chain.