Fresh produce chemical contamination through pesticides spreading may be considered as a minor risk for consumer health. As a result, high proportion of safety control may be delegated by public agencies to the private sector. Private control is even higher when fresh produce are sold to safety demanding consumers given the high exposure of retailers' comercial reputation. Performed within the framework of the European project Sustainmed, our paper is a case study of the public and private management and control of the safety risk and its determinants in the fresh produce industry of two contrasted mediterranean countries: Morocco and Turkey. Based on expert interviews and face to face surveys of a high number of tomato growers, it provides insights into the factors influencing the role of the different players in the management and control of the safety risk. A clear divide is made between the individual parameters at the grower and shipping levels and the country parameters at the industry and institutional levels. Both categories of parameters significantly influence the level of safety management at the production level (IPM schemes and GAP certificates) and help understand the respective contributions of public and private actors in the safety risk management of the whole system.