Contaminated water and the Food Safety Modernization Act

Abstract We develop a theoretical framework and presents corresponding empirical analysis of the Food Drug Administration’s irrigation water quality regulatory standard under Safety Modernization Act using lettuce as case study. stochastic price endogenous partial equilibrium model with recourse to examine standard’s efficacy various scenarios foodborne illness severity, implementation, demand response outbreaks, costs. The stringency regulation is evaluated producer requirements implications for economic surplus. baseline results show that in market, proposed microbial (FSMA) not cost effective relative existing Leafy-Greens Marketing Agreements relying on treatment mitigation contamination. However, FSMA can be if sufficiently expensive.