Certifier competition and audit grades: An empirical examination using food safety certification

Yuqing Zheng and Talia Bar

Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, 2023, vol. 45, issue 1, 182-196

Abstract: Third‐party certification bodies (CBs) audit companies to determine compliance with standards. Using panel data from the British Retail Consortium food program, a leading international food safety standard for manufacturers, we empirically examine determinants of audit grades. We show that on average, audit grades are lower the first‐time manufacturers certify, consistent with certification improving food safety practices. Small manufacturers are disadvantaged compared with large (multisite) producers who obtain on average higher grades. We also test and support the hypothesis that a higher degree of CB competition leads to higher grades, raising concern for a potential conflict of interest in certification.

Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1002/aepp.13211

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wly:apecpp:v:45:y:2023:i:1:p:182-196

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy from John Wiley & Sons
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().