UMD researchers found mandatory food safety guidelines are necessary to safeguard public health
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Researchers from the University of Maryland reviewed the effects of food safety standards in the produce supply chain and found that, prior to the establishment of mandatory food safety rules, voluntary measures did not reduce food foodborne illness outbreaks and reduced only some food safety recalls. The research, which was published on January 17, 2022, in American Journal of Agricultural Economics, suggests that mandatory government safety protocols are necessary to safeguard public health.
“Food safety is the joint product of everybody who handles produce all along the supply chain,” said Erik Lichtenberg, a professor in the department of Agricultural & Resource Economics at UMD and the senior co-author of the paper. “If you can’t identify whose actions were at fault for a given foodborne illness or recall, no one entity in the supply chain really has any incentive to make sure things are safe. And in fact, our paper found that when growers voluntarily adopt safety standards, it does not lead to a safer food supply.”
