Study of food safety inspections

Foodborne diseases are globally spread public health problems that reduce economic productivity and pose great burden to health systems. Hundreds of millions of people suffer from communicable and non-communicable diseases caused by contaminated food and water both in developed and under-developed countries. The scope of this report was to evaluate how food safety practices are applied in developed and transitional countries and to highlight best practices in control, taking into consideration the level of development of countries, their historical background in terms of food regulation, specific characteristics and the importance of food production for the national economy. The report is targeted to policy- makers and government officials engaged in the reform of the official food safety controls system in transition and developing countries. International Finance Corporation (IFC) project managers and advisory teams will also find it a useful resource in designing food safety and agribusiness interventions as part of the overall IFC strategy on agribusiness.