Tracing the Costs and Benefits of Improvements in Food Safety: The Case of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point Program for Meat and Poultry: Introduction

In 1997, the Federal Government introduced a new food safety regulation for meat and poultry slaughter and processing plants. Under the Pathogen Reduction and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point rule (commonly known as HACCP), slaughterhouses and processors must adopt new procedures to reduce the incidence of foodborne illness transmitted by raw meat and poultry products (see box, The HACCP Program). The costs and benefits of implementing HACCP are distributed throughout the economy. The costs of implementing HACCP are paid initially by the meat and poultry industry, while the benefits of controlling foodborne illness are distributed initially among consumers. However, the ultimate impact of these costs and benefits extends well beyond the initial payers and beneficiaries, with economic ramifications for many different segments of the economy.