Food Safety Regulation
Food quantity and quality have emerged as major public policy issues in sub Saharan Africa because of the effect on human health and lost productivity. Economists discuss food safety in the context of market failure and externalities. The consumption of some foods may lead to the incidence of disease, the cost of which would be borne by the rest of society in the form of lost work days and productivity. Food safety is promoted using tort and regulatory standards. The two approaches in developing standards in food systems are a liability orientation, that is, a system based in tort (this approach is based in private law) and a second approach based in regulation based on statute (this is based in public law) Food safety regulation is also influenced by the precautionary principle. Plaintiffs in food safety actions have relied on traditional tort theories such as negligence and strict liability.