Pork Chain Research Articles

Pork Producers' Attitudes, Knowledge, and Production Practices That Relate to On-Farm Food Safety

A survey was distributed by mail to a random selection of Illinois pig farmers marketing 1,000 or more pigs in 1998 to assess their knowledge, attitude and behavior regarding on-farm food safety. Valid responses were received from 353 of the 946 surveys mailed (37.3%). Pork production accounted for more than 50% of gross agricultural revenues among 65.0% of respondents, and 91.2% were classified as “owner-operators.” Knowledge of food-borne pathogens was mixed, with correct responses to questions as follows: Trichina, 80.4%; Salmonella, 58.5%; Toxoplasma, 19.9%; and Campylobacter, 12.8%. Producers strongly agreed that food safety was a shared responsibility at every level of the food chain, including the farm level, with an average score for all steps in the pork chain of 4.5 on a scale from 1 (not important) to 5 (very important). When asked whether third party verification of on-farm practices was important, 51.2% agreed and 48.8% either disagreed or neither agreed nor disagreed. Associations between demographic categories and knowledge of and attitudes toward food safety were detected for herd size, proportion of agricultural receipts from pig production, grower versus birth-to-market production, age categories, and whether the respondent owned the pigs or facilities. Many (53.4%) were willing to apply a suggested food safety practice, even if there was no net profit for the practice. Findings suggest that Illinois pork producers accept an important role in pork food safety and express a willingness to participate but have knowledge gaps that should be filled.

Economic optimization of pork production-marketing chains. II. Modelling outcome

Abstract Dynamic linear programming was used to evaluate the development of pork chain concepts that take animal welfare concerns into account. Pig welfare attributes and the additional costs of production and distribution were balanced. The pig welfare perceptions of both a consumer-related respondent and a pig welfare expert served as input. Pig welfare estimations represented improvements additional to the pig welfare level in the default situation and were expressed on a relative scale from 0 to 100 points. Results showed that at relatively low levels of additional pig welfare (i.e. ≤ 20 to 30 pig welfare points), especially slaughterhouse- and transportation-related attributes were incorporated into the chain concepts. Examples included the attributes “reducing stock densities” and “using automated unloading platforms”. Moreover, “illumination standards” were raised in both the farrowing and fattening stage. Total additional costs ranged from Dfl. 0.56 to Dfl. 1.20 per pig from the farrowing to the slaughtering stage. Sensitivity analysis showed that the least-cost chain concepts at these low levels of additional pig welfare were very stable. The additional costs incurred increased progressively at higher levels of additional pig welfare to a total maximum (i.e. 100 welfare points), ranging from Dfl. 77 to Dfl. 114.

Economic optimization of pork production-marketing chains: I. Model input on animal welfare and costs

Abstract In recent years animal welfare has become a major concern for consumers. In developing product differentiation policies to respond to this type of concerns, animal welfare preferences have to be related to the cost of production. This paper reports on an application of conjoint analysis to evaluate pig welfare perceptions of both consumer-related respondents and pig welfare experts. Economics of the pig welfare concerns was evaluated, using an economic pork chain simulation model, including the farrowing, fattening and slaughtering stages and the transportation of pigs between these stages. Results showed that the farm stages farrowing and fattening were considered most important with respect to pig welfare. Important pig welfare attributes included group housing of non-lactating sows, supply of straw and stock density. Respondents were rather heterogenous with respect to their individual quantifications, but no significant difference in response could be found between experts and consumer-related respondents. In total, pig production and distribution costs were increased by 22 to 32% when all pig welfare attributes were included in the pork production-marketing chain. Further research is proposed to balance animal welfare and economic aspects in an integrated manner.

PORK CHAIN QUALITY AUDIT SURVEY: QUANTIFICATION OF PORK QUALITY CHARACTERISTICS1

ABSTRACTAs part of the Pork Chain Quality Audit, pork manufacturing companies were surveyed to identify and quantify factors influencing pork quality. Surveys were designed to evaluate the quality of pork at the slaughter and fabrication segments of the chain. Meat firms provided information based on 57% of the 88 million barrows and gilts slaughtered in federally inspected plants in 1992. All major hog‐producing areas of the U.S. were represented. Results of the survey indicated that the primary concerns about the quality of pork at the packing level were: (1) excessive fat; (2) inadequate muscle‐color/water‐holding‐capacity; (3) inconsistent live weights; (4) too many abscesses; and (5) excessive bruising. The results of the survey were used to determine costs associated with quality deficiencies. It was determined that $10.10 or approximately 10% of the live‐animal value is lost per slaughter barrow/gilt due to quality nonconformities.