Food Safety Standards and Export Competitiveness in the Food and Processed Food Industries in Asia-Pacific Countries

Developing country producers face several constraints related to food safety standards imposed by developed countries. The purpose of this study is to identify factors affecting export flows with respect to food safety standards; and to measure the effects of food safety standards on exports. This study incorporates a food safety variable in a gravity model. The analysis uses aggregate data for bilateral exports of processed food products, and data for factors affecting bilateral export flows for 17 years on 16 OECD and Asia-Pacific countries. The results show that food product exports are negatively affected by aflatoxin standards. A one percent increase in food safety standards decrease exports by approximately one percent. This means that large changes in food standards (which are common these days) will have salutary, deleterious impacts on food exports by developing countries.