Premium
Economic Welfare and Food Safety Regulation: The Case of Mechanically Deboned Meat
Author(s) -
McNiel Douglas W.
Publication year - 1980
Publication title -
american journal of agricultural economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.949
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1467-8276
pISSN - 0002-9092
DOI - 10.2307/1239466
Subject(s) - economic welfare , trimming , welfare , economics , meat packing industry , business , animal welfare , table (database) , agricultural economics , food science , market economy , chemistry , ecology , computer science , biology , data mining , operating system
Mechanical deboning is a technology that allows red meat packers and processors to recover fragments of meat that are left on the bones of carcasses after hand trimming. The economic impact of alternative public policies, ranging from a ban on the use of mechanically deboned meat to a free market approach, is analyzed with a simultaneous equations supply‐demand model of the markets for table and processed beef and pork. The results indicate that the loss in economic welfare to society, as well as the price and quantity effects associated with present restrictions, are not insignificant.