Readings
Related Amber Waves Articles
This page provides references to ERS publications and journal
articles:
Food Traceability: One Ingredient in a Safe and
Efficient Food Supply--Food traceability is one element of any
supply-management or quality/safety control system. Food producers
have voluntarily built traceability systems to track the grain in a
cereal box to the farm and the apples in a vat of apple juice to
the orchard (April 2004).
Traceability in the
U.S. Food Supply: Economic Theory and Industry Studies--This
report investigated the traceability baseline in the United States
and found that private sector food firms have developed a
substantial capacity to trace (March 2004).
Country-of-Origin Labeling: Theory and
Observation--This report examines the economic rationale behind
various claims about the effects of mandatory country-of-origin
labeling. Profits motivate firms to innovate and introduce
thousands of new food products each year to satisfy consumers'
demand. Yet food suppliers have generally not emphasized,
advertised, or labeled food with "Made in USA." The infrequency of
"Made in USA" labels on food suggests suppliers do not believe
domestic origin is an attribute that can attract much consumer
interest. ERS researchers found that suppliers would be able to
provide such labels if there were sufficient consumer interest
(January 2004).
"Traceability for Food Safety and Quality Assurance: Mandatory
Systems Miss the Mark"--Policymakers have recently started weighing
the usefulness of mandatory traceability for managing diverse
problems such as the threat of bio-terrorism, country-of-origin
labelling, mad cow disease, and identification of genetically
engineered foods. The question is: when is mandatory traceability a
useful and appropriate policy choice? (See Golan, Elise, Barry
Krissoff, Fred Kuchler, Kenneth Nelson, Gregory Price, and Linda
Calvin. "Traceability for Food Safety and Quality Assurance:
Mandatory Systems Miss the Mark," Current: A Journal of the
Canadian Agricultural Economics Society, no. 4, pp. 27-35
(2003).
Traceability in the US Food Supply: Deadend or
Superhighway?--Although the United States does not mandate
system-wide traceability, firms have a number of motives for
establishing traceability systems; as a result, private-sector
traceability systems in the United States are extensive. The
breadth, depth, and precision of private traceability systems vary
depending on the attributes of interest and each firm's
traceability costs and benefits. Mandatory traceability that fails
to allow for variation across firms may impose unnecessary costs on
firms already operating efficient traceability systems (2003).
Traceability for Food Marketing and Food Safety:
What's the Next Step?
--Traceability systems are recordkeeping systems that
are primarily used to help keep foods with different attributes
separate from one another. When information about a particular
attribute of a food product is systematically recorded from
creation through marketing, traceability for that attribute is
established. This article examines the economic rationale for
private firms to establish traceability and the economic arguments
for government-mandated traceability (February 2002).
Economics of Food
Labeling--This report traces the economic theory behind food
labeling and presents three case studies in which the government
has intervened in labeling and two examples in which government
intervention has been proposed. Economic theory suggests that the
appropriate role for government in labeling depends on the type of
information involved and the level and distribution of the costs
and benefits of providing that information (January 2001).