Carter Hoffman

Carter Hoffman is a Research Associate at Trade Finance Global focusing on the impact of macroeconomic trends and emerging technologies on international trade.

Latest Post

Contents

Officially, sanitary and phytosanitary measures are defined as any government action intended to protect human, animal, or plant life from health risks.

Remember what it was like during the Irish Potato Famine?

Probably not – it took place 175 years ago, after all.

According to the history books though, it made life a little bit more difficult for Ireland’s working class at the time.

Well, maybe a lot more difficult.

In 1845, a fungus-like organism called Phytophthora infestans destroyed around 75% of Ireland’s potato crop for seven consecutive years, resulting in the death of roughly one million Irish from starvation.

While the exact origins of this famine-inducing organism are still debated, many experts believe that it either came from South America or Central Mexico.

At some point in the 1840s, a crop infected with the organism was likely brought into Europe where its spread eventually led to Ireland’s Great Hunger.

While this is certainly an outdated example and there are countless measures in place that should prevent a similar event from occurring today, it highlights the importance of taking precautions to protect domestic agriculture – something that is particularly important in 2022 given the ongoing global food crisis.

Today, these precautions are largely referred to as sanitary and phytosanitary measures.