The Cost and Benefit of Listeria Monocytogenes Food Safety Measures
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The objectives of this review were to evaluate economic techniques used to determine the cost
and benefit of Listeria monocytogenes control and to estimate the economic optimum of L.
monocytogenes food safety measures. The level of food safety measures is optimal if marginal
benefit and marginal cost equate. Estimates of benefit and cost of L. monocytogenes food safety
measures, from available published literature, are derived from different methods of economic
analysis (willingness-to-pay, cost-of-illness, cost function, event study methods). The estimated
annual benefit and cost of L. monocytogenes food safety measures ranged from $2.3 billion to
$22 billion and from $0.01 billion to $2.4 billion, respectively. The estimated marginal benefit
exceeds the estimated marginal cost, which implies that more food safety measures are warranted
before the optimal level of L. monocytogenes food safety can be reached. However, due to
considerable lack of data the optimal level of L. monocytogenes food safety measures could not
be estimated. When better data become available, this study can serve as a template for
estimating the optimal level of food safety. The understanding of the economic optimum of food
safety level will contribute to designing a control program that is economical and acceptable for
US society.