ABSTRACT
The setting of food standards has become a key feature in the changing contours of cross-continental food chains. In commercial trade, both private and public forms of governance have emerged in the development of food standards. Northern country governments, in particular within the European Union (EU), are setting higher levels of food standards, both for public health reasons and to underpin public confidence. But additionally, Northern corporate purchasers (notably retailers but also manufacturers and caterers) are also demanding increasingly high specifications and standards of imported fresh foods and for ingredients for food processing and manufacturing. The emphasis is on higher food standards to meet the perceived preferences of the affluent consumer markets of developed countries for quality, notably in terms of food safety. These standards are voluntary, but their observance is often mandatory for producers to gain export contracts.
