Private Food Safety Standards: Their Role in Food Safety Regulation and their Impact
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Private food standards are playing an increasingly important role in determining market access in international trade. The scope and objectives of these standards vary widely according to the nature of the entities developing and adopting them: they commonly address food safety, food quality or social and environmental issues along the production to marketing continuum. While official food safety standards must respect rules laid down within the SPS agreement, private food safety stand ards are not presently bound to this requirement. Given the growing importance of these standards, many developing countries are concerned that they undermine the authority of the texts adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC). This paper is a response to requests made by member countries during the 32nd Session of the CAC in 2009 that FAO/WHO carry out a more critical analysis of the role, cost and benefits of private standards especially with respect to the impact on develo ping countries. The paper first provides a brief review of different types of private food standards and illustrates through a number of examples, the interplay between public and private spheres in the setting of food standards. The private interests promoted by private food standards are often in line with public interests: in some cases private standards can be seen as useful tools for implementing public policy and, where necessary, public authorities can be expected to take ac tion to obviate potential problems arising from private standards and their implementation.