Beyond Market Access: Value From Food Safety Certification of Fresh Strawberries

Not all food safety practices are legislatively mandated; voluntary adoption is common but in many cases does not represent an exogenous choice for an individual firm that wants to maintain market access. The authors examine how adoption of food safety practices can also provide nonmarket-access benefits to a firm. In contrast to previous work that focused on consumer demand impacts from adoption and/or third-party certification, the authors concentrate on cost-saving benefits and particularly on reduction in product shrinkage. They use an interregional model of the North American fresh strawberry market to illustrate whether firms are able to capture such savings in a competitive market, given market structure and regional trade patterns. [EconLit classification: Q180, D240]. (C) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.