Recent outbreaks with fresh produce have raised questions regarding management of quality and safety in the complex supply chains,where cooperatives play a central role.The overall objective of this article was to investigate the role of cooperatives in food quality and safety management in the fresh produce chain, focussing on the food safety management system simple mented on the farms. More specifically,werisethequestionhowamoremarket-likeoramorehierarchy-likegovernanceoftransactionsviacooperativesaffectthequalityandsafetymanagementsystemofthemembers.TheresearchemployedcasestudiesinfourcooperativesinBelgiumandtheNetherlands,eachwithdifferentsizeandpercentofcontractualsales.Datawascollectedwithadiagnostictoolforassessmentoffoodsafetymanagementsystems(FSMS)onthefarms,andsemi-structuredinterviewswiththequalityassurancemanagersofthecooperativefirms.Twenty-eightstrawberryfarmswereassessedwiththediagnostictool,sevenpereachcooperative.Cooperativesplayadoubleroleinmanagingqualityandsafetyinthefoodsupplychain.Theyareresponsibleforthesupplychainmanagement,includingtacticaldecisionsaboutcoordinationofqualityandsafetyrequirementsbetweencustomers,cooperativefirmsandtheirfarmers.