Methods of Economic Analysis of the Implementation of HACCP Standards in Milk Production

The introduction of the HACCP system is very important in the primary production of milk and in the food industry. If the milk is produced and processed in accordance with the HACCP system, there is more certainty regarding its safety and quality. On farms, milk production according to HACCP standards comprises the implementation of tests for the purpose of checking the status of cows, milk and total environments of milk production. Farms that produce better quality milk have the possibility of working with larger dairies and achieving the highest price of milk. Given the complexity of the issues regarding the rates of economic effectiveness of investment in the implementation of HACCP standards in milk production, the aim of this paper is to review the different concepts that can be applied in the economic analysis of the introduction of HACCP standards. It should be noted that the introduction of quality standards may not necessarily be related to additional investments. It was found that, in the economic analysis, costs are more often expressed in money, whereas the benefits of the introduction of quality system are more difficult to be valued. The method of partial budgeting is used as the most common approach to the economic analysis. This method monitors the changes in costs that occur due to the introduction of measures which should lead to an increase in the quality of milk. In addition, other methods such as integer linear programming, Cost - Effectiveness and Cost - Benefit analysis and defining of functions that determine the movement of costs, can be used. To estimate the amount of the costs of introducing quality standards, accounting, economic - engineering and econometric approaches can be applied. The most important limitation of all these analyses is that the majority of parameters monitored are generally difficult to measure.