Introduction
The competitive landscape for international trade in food is continuously evolving. Most developed and developing countries are removing tariffs and quotas as trade barriers, and implementing more stringent measures to ensure the safety of food. Food safety is the concept that food will not be injurious to the consumer at the point of consumption, when it is prepared and/or eaten according to its intended use (BS EN ISO 22000, 2005). Regulators of the food sector have justifiable reasons for these changes in competitive landscape. Some have attributed it to the increased awareness of consumers about food safety, which is causing them to put pressure on regulators. Others have attributed it to the outbreak of Salmonella and Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in the UK (Loader & Hobbs, 1999) and E. coli 0157:H7 in some developed countries in Europe and America. Developing countries have also had their fair
share of food contamination issues, even though the scale of impact is difficult to estimate, due to inadequate surveillance systems and reporting structures (WHO/FAO, 2005). These occurrences in the past awakened concerns of major stakeholders; they believed that