ERS Research on Food Safety

Food Safety briefing room

The Food Safety Briefing Room provides a central point for obtaining information about economic issues that influence the safety of the U.S. food supply. Issues include examining how benefits and costs of alternative policies and programs designed to protect consumers from unsafe foods might be distributed among producers and consumers.

Foodborne Illness Cost Calculator (May 2010)

ERS' estimates of the costs of foodborne illness have been used in regulatory cost-benefit and impact analyses such as the assessment of the HACCP program. The Foodborne Illness Cost Calculator allows users to choose assumptions they want to make about the number of illnesses, medical costs, and lost productivity due to Salmonella or E. coli O157:H7 infections.

Consumers’ Response to the 2006 Foodborne Illness Outbreak Linked to Spinach

Following a Government warning to avoid bagged spinach because of possible E. coli O157:H7 contamination, spinach sales temporarily fell. Analysis of retail demand for leafy greens revealed that consumers paid close attention to the advice they received from Federal health and safety officials and avoided spinach until the warning was retracted. Consumers generally did not become fearful about other leafy green vegetables and substituted other leafy greens for spinach.

The Interplay of Regulation and Marketing Incentives in Providing Food Safety

This report examines the effects of mandatory process regulations and management-determined actions on Salmonella species under the Pathogen Reduction/Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (PR/HACCP) rule. The study found that management-determined actions (such as capital investment) account for about two-thirds of the reduction in samples testing positive for Salmonella species in meat and poultry food products, while process regulations (such as sanitation) account for about a third of the reduction. The importance of process regulation varies, but accounts for 50 percent or more of process control in about a quarter of plants, and in some plants accounts for the entire process control system.

Imports from China and Food Safety Issues

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) increased attention to food imports from China is an indicator of safety concerns, as food imports from China more than tripled in value between 2001 and 2008. Addressing safety risks associated with these imports is difficult because of the vast array of products from China, China’s weak enforcement of food safety standards, its heavy use of agricultural chemicals, and its considerable environmental pollution. FDA import refusal data highlight food safety problems that appear to recur in trade and where FDA has focused its import alerts and monitoring efforts.