Files
Abstract
Food-safety concerns have a highly visible
impact on current U.S.-China agricultural trade.
Initial concerns over melamine in imported pet
and animal feed have spread to other products,
and traditional made-in-China “cheap” goods are
drawing great safety attention from U.S. customers
and regulators. At the same time, China has raised
concerns over U.S. products as diverse as orange
pulp, health supplements, and pistachio nuts.
Ultimately, the impact of food-safety regulation will
be determined not only by regulatory content but
also by administrative and structural characteristics
of supply chains. This paper uses fresh apple
markets in China as an example to illustrate the
complexity of managing interactions among these
three factors.