The era of accountability in food safety is upon us. With social media empowering consumers and an increase in global trades, food industry pundits and food safety regulators alike will be expected to become more responsive and transparent. Protectionism is no longer enough, or even appropriate. With less means, public regulators from around the world are pressed to monitor risks that are often challening to anticipate. Constant learning will be crucial for more effective mitigating strategies and policies. This learning process can be supported by many different sources, including other countries.

Once deemed controversial, benchmarking amongst nations has become a powerful tool allowing food safety experts to anticipate systemic risks which could threaten the welfare of an economy. This book analyzes the strengths and weaknesses in food safety systems around the world in order to assist academics, industry professionals and policymakers to implement effective food safety management systems and processes. The food safety performances of 17 OCDE countries have been compared across four major categories: consumer affairs; biosecurity; governance and recalls; and traceability and management. The purpose of this benchmarking framework is to identify and evaluate common elements among global food safety sustems. The primary objective of this book is not only to identify which country offers the safest food prodcuts to its citizens, but to recognize which countries employ comparatively best practices to contain risks related to the safety of food sustems.