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Abstract
This paper examins the question of revisiting the imposition of existing
trade barriers in one case of an evolving marketplace – when a traditional food
product is altered to provide, or discovered to have, human health benefits that
increases their value to consumers. In other words, the food becomes a functional
food. A functional food has the potential provide direct benefits to consumers as well
as indirect benefits to society in the form of health care cost savings. If the trade
barrier was put in place prior to these direct and indirect benefits of the food
becoming apparent, then they would not have been considered when the decision to impose the trade barrier was taken. In these circumstances, policy makers may wish to
revisit a decision to impose a trade barrier.