Market failure alone does not justify public intervention, as these must also pass a cost-benefit test.
The economic benefits of improved food safety are reduction in lost productivity and life from foodborne illness.
For example, recent estimates suggest that foodborne illness results in between $14 and $152 billion in lost productivity and life in the U.S.
These can be compared to the industry costs of meeting food safety regulatory requirements.
For example, Crutchfield etal.(1997) showed that U.S. industry costs of controlling microbial pathogen in meat were much smaller than the value of improved human health resulting from these mandated controls.
Thus, public intervention to improve food safety can result in net economic benefits.