ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the rationale for and objectives of a new international food safety regulatory regime by demonstrating the limitations of the existing General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) framework. It then details the clash of values between science, liberal or free markets and democracy that occurred during the negotiation of the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Agreement, and describes the balance struck between these three values. The Agreement applies to production and processing measures to protect the lives or health of humans, plants, or animals 'from risks arising from additives, contaminants, toxins or disease-carrying organisms in foods, beverages or feedstuffs'. The chapter also discusses the feasibility of securing an equitable balance among the values of democracy, liberal markets, and science in international institution building for food safety regulation. Value conflict in institutions is not only about balancing competing values during a process of institution formation. It also extends to the way values are articulated and implemented within institutions.
