The Food Safety Modernization Act and Differential Revenues to Differently Sized U.S. and Foreign Tomato Producers

Abstract

The Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) provides new U.S. food safety standards to lower the incidence of foodborne diseases. The FSMA is analyzed in terms of adoption effects on differently sized domestic and foreign farms producing fresh tomatoes for the U.S. market. Findings indicate that adoption of the FSMA will negatively affect the revenues of Very Small farms the most and Small U.S. farms as well. However, it will positively affect the revenues of foreign farms (especially Canadian) and Large U.S. farms. This may lead to the restructuring of tomato production and distribution in the U.S. tomato market.