Private Food Safety and Quality Standards in International Trade

Trade liberalisation is a factor that induced a change in policy and development strategy, the substitution of imports by export in the Mediterranean and elsewhere. This transition has led to the involvement of a large number of producers in export activities and in global or regional supply chains. Many food supply chains span across countries or regions and involve a variety of different operators. Ensuring food safety and production quality, processing and trading practices all along these global chains is a real challenge. This is why, food and safety standards have proliferated in the past decades and are increasingly used to govern food safety and quality issues related to agro-food value chains. Compliance with food standards can be quite challenging for a producer or exporter. In addition, the need for the supply of large volumes while maintaining the same quality and food safety standards often requires costly investments. This is due to the demanding requirements set by food standards. This chapter will also address issues of food safety and quality in the Mediterranean agricultural sector.