How Do Import Refusals for Pathogen Violations Respond to a Recession?

  • M. Taylor Rhodes Oregon State University
DOI: https://doi.org/10.26596/wn.202011375-85
Keywords: Foodborne illness, import refusals, pathogens, trade, recessions, international trade, food imports, salmonella, food poisoning

Abstract

Using publicly available import refusal data, this paper examines the extent to which an economic recession affects import refusals for pathogen violations—shipments that appear to violate the laws enforced by the United States (U.S.) Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on adulterated products. Statistically significant differences in the average share of pathogen violations suggest that changes in import refusals by pathogen type were associated with the 2007 to 2009 U.S. recession. Compared to averages before 2007, the average share of pathogen violations increased by 13.4 percentage points for Salmonella, decreased by 8.4 percentage points for Listeria and decreased by 2.7 percentage points for Histamine. While this could have been caused by changes in inspection or by changes in the quality of the food imported the results nonetheless suggest that aligning additional inspection resources immediately following macroeconomic slowdowns towards shipments more susceptible to Salmonella may help minimize the risk of foodborne illness from imported products.

Published
2020-09-29
Issue
Vol 11 No 3 (2020)
Section
Original research
Copyright (c) 2020 M. Taylor Rhodes

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