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Abstract
With the emergence of private food safety and quality standards in developed countries fruit exporting
countries in the developing world face increasing constraints to access markets in the rich
industrialised countries in the North. Producers in the South have no alternative as to make the
necessary investments on farms and in pack houses to comply with the requirements of these food
quality and safety standards. The export of fresh fruit is an important component of South African
agricultural exports, with citrus fruit exported to markets such as Europe being of particular
importance. This paper reports selected results from a large research project into the impact of private
standard compliance on the quality of the fruit and the returns to farmers. The research process
involved a multi-disciplinary analysis of Agricultural Economics and Microbiology / Plant pathology
as we analysed the dynamics of the citrus export supply chain from the farms in South Africa to the
end consumer in Europe. Sampled fruit containers were followed through the whole supply chain
which allowed us to provide an exposé of the behaviour of the different actors in the citrus supply
chain and obtain some evidence of poor handling and hygiene standards by means of a comparison of
the experimental observations with various relevant components of the EurepGAP control points and
compliance criteria for fruit and vegetables. Observations suggest that these standards are adequately
applied to the production and handling of fruit at the farm and pack house levels while on the other
hand the subsequent stages (mainly after the importing harbour in Europe) of the fruit supply chain are
seemingly not subjected to the same strict requirements laid out for producers, leading to fruit quality
deterioration and financial losses for producers. This constitutes clear parallel standards in terms of
fruit safety and quality standards between upstream and downstream sections of the supply chain and
questions thus the purpose of the standards and the financial return for producers making large
investments to comply with these privately introduced standards.