Agricultural policy /point of view on food labeling country of origin - Essay Example

At the same time, one cannot rely on all products which are labeled by several agents. Any standard institution which has recognition from the International and national certification agencies should certify the quality standards of these agricultural produce. In this context, agencies like United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) play a vital role. In addition to the quality parameters, the customers must be informed about the origin of the agricultural product.

The identification of origin of the product helps the people to judge the quality of the product and to decide whether it is safe to procure the product. It is because the customers have wide knowledge about the crops which flourish well in some geographical locations and hence they may prefer to offer higher price. Similarly, in some countries, pests and disease problem may persist in some particular season and customers may try to avoid the same. For example, if bird flu was prevalent in South East Asia, the customers in USA will get the information relating to this through mass media and they would not prefer to purchase the produce from this location.

This will certainly help the customers in reducing their element of risk to the contamination from bird flu. In this way the origin of agricultural produce would help the customers in significant manner. Hence the food policy must ensure that the national and international food certification and labeling agencies must be well informed about the product specifications like origin and date of packing etc. Regulation of food labeling is highly complex and it has to be done very strictly at national and international level.

Hence any agricultural policy must incorporate suitable strategies for making food labeling a mandatory practice. Food labeling allows the professionalism in marketing the agricultural produce at a global level. It provides enough advantage to those