Food Policy 30 (2005) 354–369 www.elsevier.com/locate/foodpol 0306-9192/$ - see front matter  2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.foodpol.2005.05.006 Third-party certiWcation in the global agrifood system Maki Hatanaka ¤ , Carmen Bain, Lawrence Busch Department of Sociology, Michigan State University, 422 Berkey Hall, East Lansing, MI 48823, USA Abstract Recently, third-party certiWcation (TPC) has emerged as a signiWcant regulatory mechanism in the global agrifood system. It reXects a broader shift from public to private governance. Tra- ditionally, government agencies were responsible for monitoring food safety and quality stan- dards. However, the globalization of the agrifood system, the consolidation of the food retail industry, and the rise in private retailer standards have precipitated a shift in responsibility for this task to third-party certiWers. This development is reconWguring social, political, and eco- nomic relations throughout the contemporary agrifood system. In discussing the rise of TPC, this paper focuses on the role and implications for three key stakeholder groups: supermarket chains, producers, and non-governmental organizations. We conclude that TPC reXects the growing power of supermarkets to regulate the global agrifood system. At the same time, TPC also oVers opportunities to create alternative practices that are more socially and environmen- tally sustainable.  2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Food safety; Standards; CertiWcation * Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 517 355 6640. E-mail addresses: hatanaka@msu.edu (M. Hatanaka), lbusch@msu.edu (L. Busch).