US Pork Research Articles

Misconceptions and meat: The impact of new knowledge on meat demand

AbstractFood labeling is intended to clarify information for consumers, yet sometimes labeling can be misleading. This study examines US consumer choice for labeled and unlabeled products across meat animal species in which differing regulations exist by species regarding hormone use in production and where consumer perception of hormone use by species varies. In the case of hormone use in US meat animal production, pork and poultry products labeled as being produced with no added hormones must also state that federal regulations prohibit the use of hormones in production. However, this required information is often obscured on retail labels. Results from expected utility models indicate that after consumers receive information regarding regulations and actual hormone use across species, the difference in utility and in willingness to pay for products labeled “produced with no added hormones” versus unlabeled product is lower for products where hormone use is restricted by federal regulations [EconLit Citations: Q13, D12, Q18].

Where you stand depends on where you sit: inconsistencies in Taiwan legislators' positions on importing US meat

Abstract This study examines the political dynamics that shape legislators' policy positions on importing US meat into Taiwan during the past decade, focusing on the cases of US beef in 2012 and US pork in 2021. The trade policy surrounding this issue has become politically contentious, involving conflicting national interests and constituency preferences. Legislators face a dilemma, torn between prioritizing the interests of their constituents and aligning with their party's interests. The central argument posits that legislators affiliated with the ruling party are more inclined to advocate for or adjust their stances to support the removal of import bans on American meat, while those associated with the opposition party tend to exhibit a greater reluctance to endorse such a stance. Factors such as the legislators' constituent's interests, district vs party-list affiliations, the urban–rural divide, or education level do not consistently explain legislators' positions on the US meat trade policy. To examine these arguments, this study employs a mixed-method approach, incorporating quantitative analysis and two case studies of individual legislators. The findings of this study offer empirical support for the central proposition.

Trading for survival: trade policy as a credible signal, alliance strategy, and public preferences in Taiwan

This article examines the connection between trade policy, alliance strategy, and public preferences. It argues that when a contentious trade agreement is perceived as a credible signal for aligning with a powerful adversary (bandwagoning), it is likely to provoke domestic opposition due to its negative impact on state survival. Conversely, when a contentious trade agreement is seen as a credible signal for counterbalancing an adversary with a non-threatening great power (balancing), it is likely to face less domestic resistance as it enhances state survival. Using a comparative case study design, this article compares two cases in Taiwan: the movement against the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement (CSSTA) in 2014 and the backlash against lifting the import ban on US pork containing ractopamine in 2021. In the CSSTA case, the government’s desired trade partner, China, was not sufficiently supported domestically due to public fears of negative security externalities. In the US pork case, the government sent a cue to the public that a trade deal with the US was a credible commitment required to strengthen the bilateral strategic relationship. This message was echoed by people who recognized the positive security externality and the preservation of Taiwan’s sovereignty and political institutions.

74 Characterizing Pork Color Shelf Life: Foundational Visual and Biochemical Bases of Pork Discoloration

Abstract Poor color stability limits meat shelf life, and poses an economic challenge to processors and retailers, and contributes to food waste. The US pork industry has only a limited understanding of fresh pork discoloration, with most inferences about discolored pork being extrapolated from beef discoloration studies. Despite substantial research into consumer perception, biochemical mechanisms, and economic impact of fresh beef discoloration, little is known regarding fresh pork color stability. This is problematic because of substantial differences in pork and beef myoglobin as well as discoloration traits. While discoloration in beef typically presents as a brown hue, fresh pork discoloration displays a wider range of hues, with differences in intensity and extent of discoloration. Pork-specific discoloration thresholds, as they relate to consumer acceptability, have not been defined and likely differ from beef due to the variety of discoloration hue, intensity, and extent combinations. Once discoloration in pork products has been characterized, biochemical, metabolomics, and proteomic changes between color stable and color labile products will provide information regarding a mechanistic basis for pork discoloration. Further, despite research into pre- and post-slaughter interventions to slow discoloration, it is not currently possible to predict at d 1 postmortem the inherent color persistence of pork entering the retail case 10 to 21 d later. Fundamental color stability research in pork, ranging from applied consumer perceptions to mechanistic traits, is needed to develop technologies and interventions to improve case life of color labile cuts, decrease discoloration-based profit losses, and reduce food waste.

Tail price risk spillovers along the US beef and pork supply chains

The objective of this paper was to investigate the intensity and the pattern of tail price risk spillovers in the US beef and pork industries. To this end, it estimates CoVaR functions for directly linked market pairs (farm–wholesale and wholesale–retail) along the relevant supply chains using quantile regressions. Over the total sample (1980–2020) and two sub‐samples (1980–1999 and 2000–2020), the beef industry appears to exhibit a higher degree of price risk connectedness relative to the pork industry. Positive and negative tail price events are transmitted between markets with the same intensity. However, tail price events (irrespective of sign) are likely to spillover with greater intensity backwards in the supply chain than forwards. This pattern of transmission may be a cause of concern about the efficiency of alternative meat marketing arrangements as risk‐sharing instruments.

155 Opportunities and Challenges of Teaching Laboratory Content of a Swine Discipline-focused Course with Limited Swine Access

In spring semester, 2020, ANSC 412: Swine Production and Management (4 credits, lecture and laboratory) was offered in the Department of Animal Science at Texas A&M University following a period of nonappearance in the curriculum. Simultaneously, planned renovation of the campus swine teaching farm required depopulation of the existing herd. Hence, animal access for course laboratories was restricted for the 2020 spring and fall semesters. The objective is to present strategies to achieve effective laboratory learning objectives with limited livestock access. Average course enrollment in 2020 spring and fall semesters was 11 students of junior and senior standing. The course laboratory was held for two hours weekly for fifteen weeks. COVID-19 interruption of the spring semester, and arrival of pigs to the campus swine teaching farm in the fall semester, necessitated creation of ten equivalent laboratory sessions per semester. Example laboratory sessions include: panels with swine industry professionals, Pork Quality Assurance version 4.0 certification, virtual farm tours, evaluating genetic merit with National Swine Registry Swine Testing and Genetic Evaluation System EPD data and indexes, understanding least-cost diet formulation with diet formulation software, creating and implementing a Secure Pork Supply enhanced biosecurity plan for the campus swine farm, and multiple case study models of troubleshooting reproductive deficiencies with the US Pork Center of Excellence National Swine Reproduction Guide. Laboratory session execution facilitated achievement of TAMU Department of Animal Science programmatic learning outcomes, specifically: understanding animal breeding programs, animal husbandry, reproductive management, and nutrient conversion, and assessing business models and application of animal management strategies. In future semesters with unrestricted swine access for teaching, live-animal handling will be emphasized in the syllabus, yet preservation of effective classroom-based laboratories will persist. These methods have value for instructors operating without campus swine resources and those whose laboratory content has been impacted by COVID-19 disruption.

Meat Demand Monitor during COVID-19.

Simple SummaryMeat products represent a core aspect of the US food supply chain and faced multiple disruptions in the COVID-19 pandemic. Available data are often aggregated or lagged in availability, thus limiting insights into consumer behavior. Using household-level data from continuous consumer tracking in the Meat Demand Monitor project, we extend understanding of consumer behavior during the pandemic. This provides a timely example of the improved insights that follow from refined and ongoing data collection to generate valuable information.Meat products represent a significant share of US consumer food expenditures. The COVID-19 pandemic directly impacted both demand and supply of US beef and pork products for a prolonged period, resulting in a myriad of economic impacts. The complex disruptions create significant challenges in isolating and inferring consumer-demand changes from lagged secondary data. Thus, we turn to novel household-level data from a continuous consumer tracking survey, the Meat Demand Monitor, launched in February 2020, just before the US pandemic. We find diverse impacts across US households related to “hoarding” behavior and financial confidence over the course of the pandemic. Combined, these insights extend our understanding of pandemic impacts on US consumers and provide a timely example of knowledge enabled by ongoing and targeted household-level data collection and analysis.

The Canadian pork industry and COVID‐19: A year of resilience

While COVID‐19 had the potential to be extremely disruptive to the Canadian pork supply chain, the sector showed resiliency by adjusting to market changes to ensure industry continuation. Unlike other non‐agricultural firms that were mandated to close at times, the pork sector was deemed an essential service and allowed to continue operating throughout the pandemic. Evidence of this resiliency is seen in three main ways. First, market access to the United States was maintained for both live pigs and pork exports. Second, Canada not only maintained market share in global pork exports, but it also actually increased shipments because of strong demand from China caused by African swine fever. Third, the challenges of processing plant closures and labour shortages were overcome in a variety of ways including increasing interprovincial shipments and increasing live pig exports to the United States. Pork consumption on a per capita basis continued the historical downward trend, and it is expected that consumers will return to their normal consumption patterns (e.g., dining at restaurants) despite job losses. At the meat processing level, it is anticipated that there will be an acceleration in the process to automate.

Asymmetric price responses of the US pork retail prices to farm and wholesale price shocks: A nonlinear ARDL approach

The objective of this study is to assess asymmetric price transmission in magnitude and asymmetric price transmission in speed, between the farm-retail and wholesale-retail levels of the US pork supply chain. In doing so, it employs the recently developed Non-Linear Auto-Regressive Distributed Lag (NARDL) model. Data utilized are monthly observations for farm, wholesale and retail prices of the US pork supply chain for the period 1990–2018. The empirical findings indicate the presence of asymmetry in magnitude for the wholesale-retail pair and the presence of both asymmetry in speed and asymmetry in magnitude for the farm-retail pair. In the long-run, positive shocks in the farm prices and in the wholesale prices are transmitted to the retail level with greater intensity as compared to negative ones.

The dynamics and volatility of prices in multiple markets: a quantile approach

This paper presents an econometric investigation of price dynamics and volatility in multiple markets. The econometric approach relies on a quantile autoregressive (QAR) model and a copula to provide a flexible representation of price dynamics and volatility in related markets. The analysis allows for an arbitrary distribution of prices across markets, nonlinear dynamics and the presence of price cycles. We propose a two-step estimation method to support a consistent estimation of the multivariate price distribution and its evolution over time. The analysis is illustrated in an econometric application to price dynamics in the US pork vertical sector. The application provides new and useful information on the nature of the pork cycle, the linkages between farm price and retail price and the evolving price volatility in this market.

A Stochastic Frontier Analysis Approach for Estimating Market Power in the Major US Meat Export Markets

The present study estimates the degree of market power in the major US beef and pork export destinations. The recently developed stochastic frontier (SF) estimator is used. Estimations of market and time-specific Lerner indices are provided. Balanced panel data between 1980 and 2011 were employed. The average Lerner index is 39% for the US beef exports and is the highest in the markets of ASEAN, Hong Kong/China, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. For the US pork exports, the average Lerner index is 16% and is the highest in the markets of Mexico and Taiwan.

Modified wean-to-finish mat as an alternative handling tool for moving grow-finish pig cadavers: A pilot study

Through the National Pork Board, the US pork industry provides recommendations for humane handling tools and acceptable non-ambulatory pig handling methods. While these recommendations are useful, there is a lack of published evidence regarding the efficacy of humane handling tools commercially available for moving non-ambulatory pigs. Wean-to-finish mats are commonly used on-farm to provide comfortable resting areas for newly weaned pigs and to minimize feed waste around feeders. The objective of this project was to test a commercial wean-to-finish mat as a humane handling tool for non-ambulatory grow-finish pigs. On-farm testing was accomplished using pig cadavers (n = 3; 135, 118, and 68 kg) to evaluate mat effectiveness based on employee effort and preference. Our results do not support wean-to-finish mats as effective handling tools for moving non-ambulatory grow-finish pigs.

Quality traits of pork semimembranosus and triceps brachii muscles sourced from the United States and Mexico

The study included fresh pork semimembranosus (SM, n=289) and triceps brachii (TB, n=283) muscles sourced from meat packers of Mexico and the USA. Samples were analyzed for moisture, protein, and fat content, pH, shear force (WBSF), cook loss, water holding capacity (WHC), instrumental color, emulsion capacity (EC) and stability (ES), and consumer sensory ratings. SM from the USA had lower WBSF (P<0.05) than that from Mexico (26.7 vs. 29.7N), higher WHC (44.7 vs. 38.4%; P<0.05) and a better appearance, as indicated by its lower h* (52.3 vs. 56.6; P<0.05) and higher C* (23.1 vs. 21.3; P<0.05). Consumer acceptance of SM was similar (P>0.05) across countries. TB from Mexico had higher (P<0.05) fat content (2.5 vs. 2.0%), lower (P<0.05) WBSF values (32.0 vs. 36.9N), and received more positive ratings by Mexican consumers (87.1 vs. 81.7%) than its US equivalent. In general, US pork exhibits better technological properties, while country of origin has less effect on consumer acceptability.

A survey of Mexican retail chain stores for fresh U.S. pork

An overview of fresh US pork in the Mexican market was achieved by surveying fresh US pork packages (n=342) for sale in five Mexican cities. Data on cut, primal/sub-primal from which the cut was sourced, subcutaneous and seam fat thicknesses, marbling scores, and presence of bone were collated. The most prevalent identifiable retail cuts were milanesa (thin slice of pork, breaded or non-breaded) and trozos (diced pork) derived primarily from the leg and accounting for 68% of the total US pork on sale. Over 90% of the retail cuts were trimmed to 3.2mm or less of external fat and the average marbling score was 2.26. Differences in distribution and fat measures were observed with chain, location and socio-economic status of clientele indicating potential for a targeted marketing approach in Mexico.

How Meat Demand Elasticities Vary with Price, Income, and Product Category

As US beef and pork prices approached record high levels in 2014, industry analysts expressed surprised at consumer response. Because the relative price swings have occurred only recently, traditional approaches to demand analysis that rely on historical data series may be less useful than is typically the case. Employing one of the largest and longest‐running choice experiments, we analyze data on 110,295 choices made by 12,255 consumers observed over a year‐long time period coinciding with historically high meat prices. Our findings reveal nonlinear demands for meat products, with demand being more inelastic at higher prices. Ground beef, steak, and pork chop demands are more sensitive to changes in chicken breast price than the reverse. Moreover, cross‐price elasticities between disaggregate meat products shrink as prices rise. Consumers' incomes significantly affect demand inter‐relationships. Higher income consumers are more likely to choose steak and chicken breasts and are less likely to choose ground beef, chicken wings, and deli ham than are lower income consumers. High‐income consumers tend to be less responsive to own‐price changes and more responsive to cross‐price changes than lower income consumers. This analysis provides estimates of structural demand parameters that help explain current meat expenditure patterns, and the results have implications for the assumption of linearity often invoked in policy analyses.

Assessing the role of futures position substitutability in a monthly slaughtered pork factor demand by US processors: a cointegrated VAR model approach

ABSTRACTThis article combines cointegrated VAR modelling with basic neoclassical production microeconomics in a new way that tests for, and illuminates the empirical nature of, the monthly US pork processing sector’s factor demand for slaughtered pork. Statistical evidence strongly suggests that the US pork processing sector has a Hicksian Cobb–Douglas slaughtered pork demand that arises from applying Shephard’s lemma to the sector’s cost function and that US pork processors treat slaughtered pork and related futures positions as close factor substitutes. In the wake of major and ongoing futures market events and trends, this study establishes and statistically tests a theoretical link between futures price movements and impacts on the underlying slaughtered pork market through monthly formation of US pork processors’ factor demand for slaughtered pork. Evidence suggests that demand agents shift between demands for the two substitutes based on movements in the slaughter/futures price ratio that results in a market-stabilizing cushion against sharp pork price movements such as those observed in the late-1990s. Statistical and diagnostic evidence suggests that our modelled non-experimental data and estimated Hicksian demand that arose from the cointegrated VAR model’s cointegration space met Haavelmo’s setting of passive variables and associated ceteris paribus conditions.

Impact of porcine epidemic diarrhea on performance of growing pigs.

The impact of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDv) infection on the US pork industry has mainly been attributed to the mortality that it causes in suckling piglets, and, consequently, much effort has been invested in the quantification of its effect in sow farms. However, no information on the performance of surviving pigs that were exposed to the PEDv as piglets is available. Here, a retrospective cohort study to evaluate the impact of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDv) infection on growing pigs’ performance, as indicated by mortality, average daily gain (ADG), average daily feed intake (ADFI), and feed conversion ratio (FCR) was performed using production records from weaned pigs in nursery and wean-to-finish sites from sow farms that became PEDv-infected between May 2013 and June 2014. Production records from the first batch of growing pigs weaned in infected flows after the PEDv outbreak (“infected batches”) were compared with those from pigs weaned within the previous 14 to 120 days (“control batches”). Performance records from infected and control batches, paired by flow, were compared using non-parametric paired tests. Mortality, ADG and FCR were significantly different in PEDv-positive (infected) compared with PEDv-negative (control) batches, with a mean increase of mortality and FCR of 11% and 0.5, respectively, and a decrease of ADG of 0.16 lb/day. Our results demonstrate a poorer performance of growing pigs weaned after a PEDv outbreak compared with those weaned within the previous 14-120 days, suggesting that in addition to the mortality induced by PEDv in suckling pigs, the disease also impairs the performance of surviving pig. These findings help to quantify the impact of PEDv infection in the US and, ultimately, contribute to efforts to quantify the cost-effectiveness of disease prevention and control measures.

Price asymmetry between different pork cuts in the USA: a copula approach

The objective of this study is to assess the degree and the structure of price dependence between different cuts in the US pork industry at the retail level. To this end, it utilizes monthly retail data of pork cuts and the statistical tool of copulas. The empirical results suggest that for all pairs, retail prices are not likely neither to boom nor to crash together, even though overall dependence is quite considerable for two of the three pairs considered in this study. No evidence of asymmetric price co-movements was found.

How changes in US agriculture have influenced the ‘new therapeutic approach’ of production animal veterinary surgeons

Over the past three decades a wide range of factors have driven US pork farmers towards largescale production systems. This evolution has prompted significant change in the veterinary profession serving this industry. Production advances have been allied to evolving practices and technologies in crop production, changes in animal management strategies and fluxes in market forces. Traditional, diverse, small-scale production units have been gradually replaced by large-scale confinement operations that have included three-site production technologies and streamlined nutrition programmes, directed towards improved operational and economic efficiency. Fluctuating cash crop prices, unpredictable markets, soaring capital costs, the high cost of developing multi-site segregation facilities, changing consumer demands and the retailer-driven desire for product traceability has led to more integrated production systems. This has caused the demise of many inefficient producers but has fostered the emergence of a small number of farmers who are adept at minimising risk and navigating commodity price fluctuations, and have the foresight and capital to employ technological advances to maximise efficiency. The modern day veterinarian is no longer needed for technical clinical procedures, but must have considerable critical thinking and problem solving expertise, encompassing epidemiological, pathological, environmental, logistical, animal husbandry, accounting, and finance capacities. They must also be able to define, implement, and train people in a standard process work environment. These skills and methods should really be viewed as the ‘new therapeutics’ since they continue to involve the implementation of science-based practices in resolving animal health, welfare, and production problems in this important industry.

Trade-adjusted measures of productivity increases in US hog production

The average dressed weight for barrows and gilts slaughtered in the United States has increased 23% since 1977, from an annual average of 163lbs to 201lbs in 2010. This measure of pork production includes pork produced from US born and raised hogs as well as hogs imported from Canada. This paper addresses technological change in US born and raised pork production. Since pork produced from Canadian hogs could distort estimates of technological improvement and other variables describing changes in US born and raised pork production, a method of adjusting production data series for the portion of US pork production that comes from foreign-born hogs is developed. The resulting data are used to estimate the rate of change in average dressed weight, assumed to be due to technical change in the US swine herd.