Consumers, Meat and Animal Products

Policies, Regulations and Marketing

Terence J. Centner

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781138365797
• eBook ISBN: 9780429773372
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Business
• Subtopic: Agribusiness
• Index: Business

This book addresses the production practices employed in the production of food animals and animal products that enable marketers to sell a variety of products to meet consumer demand.

Food animal production practices have come under increased scrutiny by consumers who object to inputs and practices. The industry has been a proponent of using technologies to reduce production costs, resulting in lower-priced meat and animal food products, and now consumers are starting to look at other objectives. This book considers the key issues of concern to consumers, including the treatment of animals, the use of antibiotics, feed additives and hormones, and how these are monitored, regulated, and communicated to consumers. It also reviews labeling and information provided to consumers, including organic, genetic engineering, welfare standards, and place of origin. While the main focus is on the United States, there are descriptions of European practices and legislation.

Overall, it aims to provide an objective and balanced appraisal, which will be of interest to advanced students and researchers in agricultural, food and environmental economics, law and policy, and animal production and welfare. It will also be very useful for early career professionals in the food and agricultural sectors.

Part I

Safety and the industry

1 Introduction

Key questions to consider

1. 1 What are we looking for when we make food purchases?
2. 2 How does the US reduce risks of contaminated food?
3. 3 How do we guarantee the truthfulness of food attributes?
4. 4 Do we understand information on attributes provided by food labels?

We are accustomed to having choices in deciding what to eat and what groceries to buy. Many of us love the large variety of fresh and prepared food items that are available at local grocery stores as well as those affiliated with specialty, national, and regional firms. Moreover, food in America is generally not expensive. We spend less of our incomes on food than people living in any other country.

With the large variety and low costs, it is not surprising that many of us are willing to pay more for food products touting specialized attributes. In response to consumer demand, food producers and marketers are conveying more information to consumers, as well as providing specialized products. They are using product labels to tell us about their products so we will buy them and are seeking additional features to differentiate their products.

With our wealth of food choices, a visit to the grocery store can be accompanied by so much information that we experience frustration. What do terms like “organic,” “no sugar added,” and “no added hormones” really mean? Does “organic” mean the food has been grown without synthetics? No, when we read the organic regulations, we learn that dozens of synthetic substances can be used in organic production and may be present in organic food products.

Does “no sugar added” mean a product has less sugar than a comparable product without a similar claim? No, there are natural sugars. Products with added sugar may actually have lower amounts of sugar than products with natural sugar. Are marketers adding hormones to food products? No, a label with “no added hormones” addresses the production of food animals and tells us the animals did not receive added hormones while being raised.

These three examples help demonstrate why many Americans are confused. We do not understand how food is produced, and labeling conventions do not always provide the information we want. Moreover, we sometimes do not comprehend the full meaning of labeled products when making our grocery purchases. As noted by Dr. Louis W. Sullivan, former Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services:

The grocery store has become a Tower of Babel, and consumers need to be linguists, scientists and mind readers to understand the many labels they see. Vital information is missing, and frankly, some unfounded health claims are being made.

(Hilts, 1990)

Why are labels being used if many people cannot understand them? Marketers are attaching confusing and meaningless labels to food products to entice consumers to buy them even though the products may not be special. This can be called “foodwashing.” Just as marketers use “greenwashing” to convey various information falsely suggesting environmental friendliness and benefits, marketers use foodwashing to tout abstract and insignificant qualities about food products to justify higher prices.

An example is a “sustainably raised” label on a meat product. There is no scientific or agreed-upon definition for this term. A second example is “farm raised.” Other than lab-grown meat, is there any animal product that comes from an animal not raised on a farm?

Many marketers and consumers have also commented on the ambiguous and meaningless term “natural” used on food products, urging the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to not permit this term on labels (Hooker et al., 2018). Finally, a “no sugar added” label tells us nothing about the amounts of natural sugars in a product and so is not helpful for consumers attempting to avoid calories.

With the identification of ambiguous and meaningless information that leads consumers to buy a product, goods may be selected without any real benefits. Since the prices of these products are generally higher than those for other products, consumers are not receiving any value for their extra expenditures.

Through a discussion of 18 topics, this book illuminates issues concerning food attributes and foodwashing. Each chapter commences with key questions that are discussed in the subsequent text. Chapters conclude with a few foodwashing facts that were highlighted in the chapter to summarize significant points. Through these questions and facts, readers can learn about the major policies, regulations, and marketing strategies related to meat and animal products. With this information, consumers can discern what aspects of food products are important to them.

Safe food

Our first concern about food products is safety. When purchasing food, we expect the products to be safe to eat. We expect ground beef not to contain E. coli O157:H7, a potentially deadly bacterium that can cause dehydration, bloody diarrhea, and abdominal cramps. We reckon that packaged greens will be free from Cyclospora cayetanesis, a parasite that causes an intestinal illness.

We assume we can depend on the label information for identifying foods that are known to contain eight allergens – milk, eggs, fish, crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, wheat, peanuts, and soybeans. These allergens can cause severe allergic reactions in some people, so we have rules that foods containing these allergens need to be labeled (US Code of Federal Regulations, 2018, tit. 21). With the information, persons with allergies can avoid these ingredients.

While we could hope that every food producer, retailer, and marketing firm would always provide safe products, we know that lapses occur. Safety measures cost money, and some firms fall short in taking sufficient precaution to keep their products safe. Experiences with past illnesses and deaths from contaminated food products have led federal, state, and local governments to become involved in efforts to reduce the likelihood of contamination that will harm people consuming food products.

The FDA has been authorized to take actions necessary to protect consumers against impure, unsafe, and fraudulently labeled food and drug products. The US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Food Safety and Inspection Service is the public health agency responsible for ensuring that the nation’s commercial supply of meat, poultry, and egg products are safe and correctly labeled. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention gathers data and investigates foodborne illnesses and outbreaks to provide information that is useful in helping reduce foodborne illnesses.

Many of our state legislatures have decided that our federal efforts are not enough. A majority of states have authorized their departments of public health to develop food safety programs to assure citizens that foods are safe and are not adulterated, misbranded, or falsely advertised. States have initiated inspection programs for food processing plants and food warehouses. State agencies can embargo or recall questionable food, investigate complaints, engage in the destruction of unwholesome food, coordinate foodborne outbreak investigations, and analyze the findings. The agencies can use this information to develop regulations and guidance designed to prevent similar outbreaks in the future. States also help local health departments by training personnel, reviewing programs, and implementing regulations.

What else do we want?

Today, most of us are demanding more than safe food. We want healthy food. We want information on sugar, fats, cholesterol, and vitamins. We want fresh fruits and vegetables and often avoid blemished produce. Turning to animal products, many of us want to avoid products that have a connection to added hormones, feed additives, and antibiotics. For example, we look for milk products that did not come from cows injected with recombinant bovine somatotropin. To secure desired products, we need labels with accurate information.

We also want the animals to be treated humanely. We do not want veal from calves caged in crates or small pens. We look for cage-free eggs so we know the hens were not confined in tiny wire cages. We have a variety of beliefs about the importance of animal welfare in our purchasing decisions. To avoid products connected to undesirable inputs or treatment, we need truthful label information that producers did not use the objectionable input.

Table 1.1 Food product attributes and consumer responses in seeking or avoiding the attribute

General products Characteristic	Seek or avoid	Animal products Characteristic	Seek or avoid
Organic	Seek	Production practices	Both
GMOs	Avoid	Antibiotics	Avoid
Sugar	Avoid	Feed additives	Avoid
Local food production	Avoid	Cloning	Avoid
Country of origin	Seek	Humane treatment	Seek
Pesticides	Both	Space	Seek
Obesity concerns	Avoid	Chickens	Both
Natural	Avoid	rBST	Avoid
Health concerns	Both	Hormones	Avoid

Our search for healthy food leads many to seek specialized food items identified with labels describing attributes. We are willing to pay for these special characteristics as we feel the extra costs are worth it. Table 1.1 summarizes 18 major attributes consumers are seeking or avoiding in food products. Sometimes, we seek labels denoting the attributes we like, while for some objectionable attributes, we want labels so we can avoid these products.

Simultaneously, there are many people who want low-cost food items that are safe to consume. More than 40 million Americans fend off hunger with federal assistance, and 11 million live in households that experience hunger (Price, 2017). These Americans are willing to accept foods that do not have specialized health and cosmetic characteristics. Thus, there is a demand for low-priced basic foodstuffs as well as for higher-priced specialty products.

Because not everyone wants the same products, our supermarkets offer a variety of products. This variety keeps changing as marketers react to consumer preferences to maintain business and make a profit. Food producers also respond to markets. If consumers are willing to pay more for a specialized product, such as organic meat or cage-free eggs, it will be supplied as long as it is profitable for producers and marketers.

Labeling information to facilitate choices

Labels on food p...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Abbreviations
• Part I Safety and the industry
• Part II Concerns about animal production facilities
• Part III Consumer information on inputs
• Part IV Marketing and social issues
• Index