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Conservatism in Risk Assessment and Food Safety Policy

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Economics of Food Safety
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Abstract

Concerns over food safety have virtually exploded into public consciousness over the past two years, fueled largely by concerns over pesticide residues and other chemicals. The Alar scare revealed deep anxieties among the U.S. public over the safety of food and over the adequacy of regulatory mechanisms for ensuring that safety. Continuing debates over issues such as fungicide residues on produce, pesticide residues on imported foods, traces of dioxin in milk containers and the potential cancer-fighting value of foods like oat bran or cruciform vegetables suggest that these same types of concerns will grow in prominence in coming years.

This research was partially supported by the Economic Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture under cooperative agreement 58-AEM-8-0065 and by the Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station. Contribution No. 8230 of the Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station.

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© 1991 Elsevier Science Publishing Co., Inc.

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Lichtenberg, E. (1991). Conservatism in Risk Assessment and Food Safety Policy. In: Caswell, J.A. (eds) Economics of Food Safety. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-7076-5_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-7076-5_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-011-7078-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-011-7076-5

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