In those sectors faced with questions of food safety (meat, fruit, vegetables), new private labels have been set up in Europe in order to restore consumer trust. In this paper, we perform a theoretical analysis of these private labels. We propose an original model of vertical relationships between producers and retailers which takes into account two supply sources through (i) a competitive spot market on which the retailers buy a minimum quality standard product and (ii) supply contracts aimed at marketing higher quality private labels. We study how producers and retailers could cooperate in setting up these new labels. From a public point of view, we show the complementarity of a moderate increase in public quality standards and the creation of these new private labels. Copyright Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2006Vertical relationship, Retailer, Food safety, Minimum quality standard, Private labels,

The aim of this paper is to examine the effects of nutritional policies on the behavior of firms, particularly in terms of food quality and prices, and to assess the potential impacts of such policies from a public health point of view. We determine how new products that are nutritionally improved can emerge in a market where incumbent firms offer competing unhealthy products. We also highlight a non-intentional effect of such policies: if consumer heterogeneity is high, then an information policy may simultaneously provide health benefits to the population as a whole but worsen the health of consumers that are less aware of nutritional effects. For a given level of nutritional tax, we determine the optimal threshold that firms must meet to avoid taxation. It appears that this threshold must not be too high if the goal of nutritional policies is to increase total health benefits without increasing health disparities between consumers. An increase in the tax level has two opposing effects. On one hand, it improves health benefits for consumers that are less aware of nutrition issues. On the other hand, because it leads to an increase in prices as a result of a reduction in the competition intensity, it decreases the cost-effectiveness of the policy.

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