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Food Safety: Gale, F., Buzby, J. C., (2009). Imports from China and food safety issues: Economic Research Service, Economic Information Bulletin, No. 52 Summary of writers / researchers: The article “Imports from China and food safety issues” was written by Jean Buzby and Fred Gale, in response to research initiatives by the U.S.D.A and appeared in the Economic Information Bulletin, in the year 2009. Jean C. Buzby is an agricultural economist and works in the Diet, Safety, and Health Economics Branch, Food Economics Division.

She has written various articles on Food Safety, the issue being her primary areas of research, during her stint at the ERS (Economic Research Service). Her major areas of research under this branch of study, revolved around estimating the costs of foodborne illnesses; assessing the legal initiatives for firms to produce safer food; as well as analyzing and studying international trade and food safety issues (USDA, 2011a). Dr. Fred Gale, is a senior economist, with extensive experience in the field of U.S. farm structure, rural economy as well as manufacturing employment issues.

He has conducted extensive research in the field of market analysis of Chinese agricultural practices as well as international trade. His current field of work include analysis of Chinese food consumption patterns; exploring the agricultural finance trends in China etc among others (USDA, 2011b). Critical review of their work The article discusses the safety risks associated with food imports from China in the U.S. The authors have tried to explore various critical issues such as the potential safety hazards of food imports from the region in the U.S.; the type of food imported from the region; and the causes behind FDA's rejection of food items imported from China.

They have also critically assessed the Chinese food production system, and suggested measures to improve food safety in China. Relevance of the subject: The fact that foodborne pathogens are a major cause of potential health hazards, has already been established through research (Rocourt et al. 2003; WHO 2002). The issue is of global significance, since owing to globalization, there has been substantial increase in trade relations among different countries, with food being one of the major commodities of exchange.

Inadequate safety measures, such as negligence towards sanitation and ineffective food handling systems, may cause serious health issues (Kaferstein et al. 1997; WHO 2002) mainly by playing a key role in spreading food-borne diseases. Developing countries are known to have poor sanitation, which may lead to food contamination, and the export of such contaminated food, can then spread globally, such as the incident which occurred in the 1996 Cyclosporiasis outbreak in the U.S. due to import and consumption of contaminated raspberries (Katz et al.

1999; Calvin et al. 2003). Furthermore, the recent incidents of economic adulteration of pet food, milk, toothpaste imported from China, in developed countries, has increased the need to conduct a research on the food safety issues in the region, and suggest ways and means of utilizing its tremendous productive capacity towards more productive use (Gale and Hu 2009; Roth et al. 2008). This can only be done through implementation of proper food safety measures, as suggested by the Buzby and Gale, in their article.

References: Calvin, L., L. Flores, and W. Foster. (2003). Case Study Guatemalan Raspberries and Cyclospora. 2020 Vision Briefs 10 No. 7. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute. Gale, F., and D. Hu. (2009). ‘Supply Chain Issues in China’s Milk Adulteration Incident’. Paper presented at International Association of Agricultural Economists’ 2009 Conference. 16–22 August 2009, Beijing, China. Gale, F., Buzby, J. C., (2009). Imports from China and food safety issues: Economic Research Service, Economic Information Bulletin, No.

52 Kaferstein, F. K., Y. Motarjemi, and D. W. Bettcher. (1997). ‘Foodborne Disease Control: A Transnational Challenge’. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 3/4: 503–10. Katz, D., S. Kumar, J. Malecki, M. Lowdermilk, E. H. Koumans, and R. Hopkins. (1999). ‘Cyclosporiasis Associated with Imported Raspberries, Florida, 1996’. Public Health Reports, 114/5: 427–37. Rocourt, J., G. Moy, K. Vierk, and J. Schlundt. (2003). The Present State of Foodborne Disease in OECD Countries. Paris: OECD Publications Roth, A. V., A. A. Tsay, M. E. Pullman, and J. V. Gray. (2008). ‘Unraveling the Food Supply Chain: Strategic Insights from China and the 2007 Recalls’.

Journal of Supply Chain Management, 44/1: 22–39. USDA (2011a). http://www.ers.usda.gov/AboutERS/Bios/view.asp?ID=jbuzby (accessed: 2011/04/14) USDA (2011b) http://www.ers.usda.gov/AboutERS/Bios/view.asp?ID=FGALE (accessed: 2011/04/14) WHO (World Health Organization). (2002). WHO Global Strategy for Food Safety. Geneva: World Health Organization