Abstract

How food safety affects international trade is an important factor to be studied for low-income countries which continue to rely on agricultural exports. Iran, as the greatest pistachio exporter in the world, encounters a  serious problem of aflatoxin contamination. This food safety shocks affected Iran’s  income which has  caused a lot of damages to  the country’s economy. The paper estimates the effect of food safety concerns  on  Iran’s  pistachio  export  during  1997  to  2006.  Using  a  generalized  gravity  model,  we  find  that  food safety has significant effect on Iran’s pistachio export, beside other factors that have effect on  pistachio  trade.  Based on our analysis, food safety regulations have a greater effect in the long run as against the short run.  Programs aimed at  reducing aflatoxin contamination of pistachio is a key recommendation for policy makers.  The results of this study suggest that Iran pistachio growers would benefit from better marketing and  increased food safety regulations to maintain its export market share in the world

Key words:  pistachio, food safety, panel data, generalized gravity model, Iran.