Dairy, Food and Environmental Sanitation

Abstracts - July, 2001

Consumer Perceptions of Three Food Safety Interventions Related to Meat Processing

The Promise and Challenge of Food Safety Performance Standards

Consumer Perceptions of Three Food Safety Interventions Related to Meat Processing  
Christiane Schroeter,1 Karen P. Penner,2* and John A. Fox1
1Dept. of Agricultural Economics, Waters Hall, Kansas State University,
Manhattan, KS 66506;2Dept. of Animal Sciences & Industry, Call Hall,
Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506

SUMMARY
A focus group study with 37 residents of Manhattan, Kansas, was conducted to examine consumers’ risk perceptions of foodborne illnesses from eating beef. The four focus-group sessions were designed to determine (1) relative preferences for alternative combinations of public food safety measures (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points [HACCP], carcass pasteurization, irradiation) and private protection (home preparation of rare, medium, and well-done hamburgers); (2) how who is at risk (children vs. adults) influences preferences; (3) whether consumers would pay a premium for increased product safety arising from the adoption of three different innovations in processing plants; and (4) how to improve risk communication about foodborne illnesses and protection against them. Although participants seemed aware of many food safety practices, misinformation and misconceptions also were found. The majority of the participants preferred hamburgers that were well-done and steam-pasteurized or medium and irradiated. For a 5-year-old child, the majority chose hamburgers that were well-done, and steam-pasteurized or well-done and irradiated. Concerning willingness to pay, the majority of participants preferred steam-pasteurized ground beef to regular ground beef when the two were priced the same. Results indicated that new technologies available for food safety interventions provided marginal value to participants. Participants also expressed a need for more information.

The Promise and Challenge of Food Safety Performance Standards
Mark R. Powell,* Eric D. Ebel, Allan T. Hogue, and Wayne D. Schlosser
USDA Office of Risk Assessment and Cost Benefit Analysis
1400 Independence Ave., S.W., Room 5248 S. Ag.
Washington, D.C. 20250

SUMMARY
Food safety performance standards offer the promise of increased efficiency and innovation. At the same time, performance standards present both regulatory agencies and the regulated community with significant challenges in regard to regulatory development, implementation, and compliance. The basic tradeoff is that increased flexibility in achieving the desired level of protection is purchased at the cost of additional information and complexity inherent to situation-specific approaches. This paper illustrates one approach to developing a food safety performance standard for a pathogen in a ready-to-eat food, based on available empirical evidence. The example of Salmonella Enteritidis in pasteurized egg products points up both the promise and the challenge of developing performance-based regulatory standards for microbial pathogens in ready-to-eat foods.