Food Safety Economics Incentives for a Safer Food Supply

Tanya Roberts has been involved in five Congressional reports and hearings, including testifying on the costs of foodborne illness and writing a benefit/cost analysis of food irradiation.   She has been an invited speaker at UN conferences and meetings in North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia and New Zealand.  While at the Economic Research Service in USDA, Dr. Roberts analyzed the private sector’s innovations in response to the 1993 Jack in Box outbreak and led the slaughterhouse team in USDA’s risk analysis of E. coli O157:H7 in ground beef.  The interaction of the private sector with food safety public policy is Dr. Roberts main research interest, both nationally and internationally.  Both in ERS and in the economics profession, Dr. Roberts has pioneered economic analysis of food safety policies.