ABSTRACT
Audit systems are common features of global commodity chains, providing a means to assure consumers of the quality standards and production practices of products sourced from unfamiliar people and places. As such, they are increasingly recognised as important elements of commodity chain governance in a context of neo-liberalism and globalisation (see Larner and Le Heron 2002; Shore and Wright 1999). Scholars in the agri-food tradition frequently claim that the development of sophisticated and powerful technologies of audit – often embedded within sites of complex negotiation between the diverse participants in these systems – is one of the most interesting features of contemporary global agri-food systems. The emergence of this interest is signalled in two benchmark papers. Le Heron (2003) establishes the central role of systems of audit, grading and standards in the emergence of specifically neo-liberal forms of food governance. In a similar vein, Busch and Bain (2004) identify the proliferation of grades and standards as the ironic unintended consequence of neoliberal deregulation of global food trading. Since the publication of these two papers food auditing has entered debates around neo-liberalism, new forms of governance, and the relationship of these to globalising commodity systems.
