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Havinga, Tetty; Verbruggen, Paul --- "The Global Food Safety Initiative and state actors: Paving the way for hybrid food safety governance" [2017] ELECD 638; in Verbruggen, Paul; Havinga, Tetty (eds), "Hybridization of Food Governance" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017) 183

Book Title: Hybridization of Food Governance

Editor(s): Verbruggen, Paul; Havinga, Tetty

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781785361692

Section: Chapter 9

Section Title: The Global Food Safety Initiative and state actors: Paving the way for hybrid food safety governance

Author(s): Havinga, Tetty; Verbruggen, Paul

Number of pages: 32

Abstract/Description:

The Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) plays a central role in the adoption and coordination of private food safety standards. Major food retailers, manufacturers and their representative organizations seek to have their standards and accompanying certification schemes ‘benchmarked’ by GFSI as a sign of authority and robustness. Since its establishment in May 2000, GFSI’s influence on both the material and procedural aspects of food safety governance has grown steadily. Currently, 13 private food safety schemes owned by nine organizations have been recognized by GFSI. These schemes relate to different stages of food and feed production, including farming, processing, production, packaging, storage and distribution. A recent development concerns GFSI’s activities in engaging with international government organizations, such as the Codex Alimentarius Commission and the World Trade Organization (WTO) and with national food safety authorities via its ‘Global Regulatory Affairs Working Group’. This working group is developing a ‘strategy for engagement with governments and international organizations’ and pursues the following objectives: These aims suggest increasing coordination and collaboration between public and private actors engaged in the governance of food safety. At the same time, public food authorities in countries such as Canada, China, the Netherlands and the United States are exploring the possibilities of cooperation with private food governance arrangements. They appear to be primarily interested in enrolling GFSI benchmarked private food safety schemes in their risk-based monitoring and enforcement policies to economize on official inspection costs. As part of this hybrid governance approach to food safety controls, however, national authorities submit GFSI benchmarked schemes to specific criteria and engage with GFSI to exert influence on its benchmarking requirements.