Economic Incentives, Public Policies, and Private Strategies to Control Foodborne Pathogens

Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Salmonellosis Control: Estimated Economic Benefits

Salmonellosis, a common human intestinal disorder primarily caused by contaminated meats and poultry, attacks an estimated two million Americans annually. Using a cost of illness approach, the medical costs and productivity losses alone were estimated to cost around one billion dollars in 1987. If pain and suffering, lost leisure time, and chronic disease costs could be quantified, the estimate would increase significantly. Other procedures for calculating the value of life could either raise or lower the estimated economic benefits of reducing human salmonellosis. Incorporating losses to farmers, whose animals have reduced feed efficiency, reduced weight gain, or deaths because of chronic salmonellosis, would also increase the estimates. Also excluded were costs of food safety regulatory programs and costs to the industry for product recalls and plant closures due to foodborne salmonellosis outbreaks. The National Academy of Sciences has endorsed risk assessment as a necessary method to evaluate and improve food safety regulatory programs, especially as applied to Salmonella contamination of poultry. Understanding the costs of salmonellosis is an important part of risk characterization since a key benefit of regulatory programs is reducing human salmonellosis.Salmonella, salmonellosis, foodborne disease costs, economic costs, risk assessment, risk characterization, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

IMPROVING COST/BENEFIT ANALYSIS FOR HACCP AND MICROBIAL FOOD SAFETY: AN ECONOMIST'S OVERVIEW

HACCP, cost/benefit analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Microbial Foodborne Disease: Hospitalizations, Medical Costs and Potential Demand for Safer Food

Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy,

Traceability, Moral Hazard, and Food Safety

Errors in traceability can significantly impact the moral hazard associated with producing safe food. The effect of moral hazard depends on the proportion of unsafe food costs that can be allocated to the responsible producer, which depends on the efficiency of the traceability system. In this paper, we develop a model that identifies the minimum level of traceability needed to mitigate moral hazard and motivate suppliers to produce safe food. Regulators and consumer can use the results of this research to design regulations and contracts that mitigate moral hazard and motivate producers to deliver safe food.Food safety, traceability, moral hazard, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

SETTING PRIORITIES IN FOODBORNE PATHOGEN DATA: PUBLIC AND PRIVATE RESPONSE

Foodborne pathogens, foodborne illness, cost of illness, databases, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Bacterial Foodborne Disease: Medical Costs and Productivity Losses

Microbial pathogens in food cause an estimated 6.5-33 million cases of human illness and up to 9,000 deaths in the United States each year. Over 40 different foodborne microbial pathogens, including fungi, viruses, parasites, and bacteria, are believed to cause human illnesses. For six bacterial pathogens, the costs of human illness are estimated to be $9.3-$12.9 billion annually. Of these costs, $2.9-$6.7 billion are attributed to foodborne bacteria. These estimates were developed to provide analytical support for USDA's Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) systems rule for meat and poultry. (Note that the parasite Toxoplasma gondii is not included in this report.) To estimate medical costs and productivity losses, ERS uses four severity categories for acute illnesses: those who did not visit a physician, visited a physician, were hospitalized, or died prematurely. The lifetime consequences of chronic disease are included in the cost estimates for E. coli O157:H7 and fetal listeriosis.cost-of-illness, foodborne pathogens, lost productivity, medical costs, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy,

The zero-rating of certain professional services in terms of the Value-Added Tax Act

The third sphere of government (Local Government) has been persistently clouded by unfavourable Annual Financial Statement (AFS) audit reports. This results in local government losing credibility and its stakeholders losing confidence in the institutions or municipalities. In-depth analysis of the root cause of this dilemma is an opportunity for the municipality to reorganise its house and redeem its dignity and credibility to its stakeholders through addressing the identified challenges. The importance of the study can be attributed to the need to investigate the root causes of unfavourable audit opinion and recommend possible remedies that can assist municipalities to improve their audit report outcomes which in turn will improve the confidence of its stakeholders. The primary objective of the study was to investigate variables that impact on the audit report outcomes on annual financial statements of the municipalities that are within Alfred Nzo District (AND) Jurisdiction, including Alfred Nzo District Municipality (ANDM). This was achieved through investigating the root causes of the audit report outcomes with specific focus on the relationship that exists between the management role and audit outcomes of the Alfred Nzo District Municipalities. This was measured by the municipality’s leadership, governance, internal controls and human capital management. Convenient sampling was used wherein 150 questionnaires (30 per municipality) were sent out to the selected employees in all the municipalities in the Alfred Nzo District. Out of the questionnaires that were sent out, 103 responses were received. These were analysed to draw findings, conclusion and recommendations. The empirical results of the study revealed that there is strong evidence that leadership, governance and human capital management have a positive influence on the municipality’s AFS audit report outcomes. It also revealed that there is overwhelming evidence that internal controls have a positive influence on the municipality’s AFS audit report outcomes. The study recommends how leadership, governance, internal controls and human capital management must be improved. It also provides future research recommendations to improve this study

Smart City Governance: A comparison of models and COVID-19 related implications within the GTA

The first part of this research asks the question “what is good smart city governance” and analyzes the relevant body of literature on smart cities and smart city governance. Based on the theoretical research, 13 potential characteristics of smart city governance were identified. A comparative case study analysis of two models of smart city-type governance was also conducted to identify practical examples of what can go well and wrong with smart city governance. When it goes well, as illustrated by the City of Mississauga example, the participatory process can be enhanced by digital tools and a holistic governance framework. When it goes wrong, as illustrated by the Sidewalk Labs example, smart cities can be monopolized by corporate interests that push their own governance agendas and fail to consider the local context, exposing citizens to digital vulnerabilities. In 2020, the COVID-19 global pandemic created a public health crisis, which forced governments to connect, communicate and deliver services to their constituents through increasingly digital platforms. Research has shown that the digitalization of cities without social governance frameworks increases the risk of planning governance and decision-making being filtered through "tech goggles" that fail to consider the complex social dynamics of cities. As the pandemic has posed a unique and rapidly evolving challenge to governments at all levels, the second part of this research explores some of the impacts of the pandemic on smart city planning and governance of municipalities in the GTA. Drawing upon a thematic analysis of key informant interviews with municipal staff and topic experts, this study adds new local insights into the smart city status of cities across the GTA. The pandemic became a catalyst for digital transformation and the modernization of government, and it also revealed digital vulnerabilities. According to the research, digitalization will remain a key component of the new normal, although the GTA lacks a regional strategy for smart city governance and local municipal approaches to smart city governance vary across regions. This research suggests that a gap may exist in the governance of smart cities across the province