Raspberries from Guatemala. Perch from Kenya. Shrimp from Bangladesh. What do these foods have in common? Each of them was temporarily withdrawn from the international market until the developing countries could meet or enforce the stringent food-safety controls required by developed-country importers. The consequences? In Guatemala, the number of raspberry farmers plummeted from 85 in 1996 to 3 in 2002. Bans on Kenyan fish exports due to concerns about salmonella, and on potentially contaminated shrimp from Bangladesh, dealt similar bows to these countries’ exporters.

Though the world’s health depends on such measures to protect the global food supply, raising the food-safety bar for agricultural products can jeopardize the economic well being of developing nations already struggling to compete for world-market share. At the same time, food safety regulations required by the international market also benefit public health for people in low-income countries. In developing countries, for example, diarrheal disease is the biggest killer of small children; unsafe foods cause 70 percent of these illnesses. What is needed are techniques and policies to help developing countries raise their food-safety standards—for both domestically consumed and exported agricultural goods—without putting small farmers out of business.

IFPRI has begun to incorporate the issue into its strategy. As one of its first steps in this direction, the institute organized a food safety and security seminar at its headquarters on September 10. “Hunger, food security, malnutrition, and undernutrition are the core of IFPRI’s mission. Increasingly these concerns include a significant focus on the safety of food,” said IFPRI director general Joachim von Braun in his opening remarks. Featured speakers included Luis Flores, a former chief of agricultural inspectors in Guatemala, who discussed the raspberry ban and its consequences, Professor Laurian Unnevehr, who discussed the food safety-security connection, and Professor Spencer Henson, who spoke about food safety and international trade. About 70 researchers and policymakers attended the event. Concurrently with the seminar, IFPRI launched a new publication on the topic, containing 17 policy briefs and case studies. To access Food Safety in Food Security and Food Trade, please go to http://www.ifpri.org/pubs/catalog.htm#focus.