Food processing is considered to be one of the most water demanding and polluting industries in South Africa (SA), however not very much has been done to examine more cost effective options for wastewater management within this important sector. Among the measures proposed in the National Water Act for pollution management in general and wastewater in particular are market-based instruments and incentives. Those include the use of pollution charges, quotas and tradable permits. While market-based instruments have several advantages over command and control measures they require careful application based on proper modelling and measurement of processes involved. One of the most challenging tasks in the use of such policy measures is the determination of an optimal charge or permits schemes. Experiences from France and Italy are here illustrated in order to provide useful information and valuable lessons for SA to learn from about how best to apply economic incentives to manage food industry wastewater.