摘要：Over the past decade, the private sector has rapidly built up an array of private food standards toassure quality and safety in a .ercely competitive market. These private standards have sometimesbeen to .ll in for missing public standards, especially for safety, and to differentiate products andbuild reputation, for both quality and safety. Moreover, private standards are increasingly related tometa-management systems assuring both quality and safety at all levels of a chain, enforcing andcertifying the implementation of process standards. The privatization of standards has been importantfor both buyers and suppliers in the chain. They tend to be formulated and imposed by buyers(retailers and processors), and are key to their cost control and reputation with consumers, thusoverall competitiveness. They are imposed on suppliers, who often .nd that the standards imply verysubstantial outlays for reporting, new equipment, and training. The luckyDa relatively small subsetof the original set of suppliersDtend to .nd that meeting the standards, with formal certi.cation inhand, bene.t s their business, opens new opportunities. The excluded tend to .nd themselves relegatedto waning and unpro.table markets. The above points concerning the determinants and effects ofthe formulation and implementation of private standards are illustrated with cases from the dairy,coffee, wheat products, and coconut product chains in Brazil. # 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rightsreserved.
