Costs of Improving Food Safety in the Meat Sector (The)

Recently enacted food safety regulations require processors to meet product standards for microbial contamination in meat products. An analysis of the cost-effectiveness of several technological interventions for microbial control in beef and pork processing shows that marginal improvements in food safety can be obtained, but at increasing costs. The additional food safety intervention costs represent about 1 percent of total processing costs for beef and pork. Some interventions and combinations are more cost-effective than others.