A survey of dairy producer practices and attitudes pertaining to dairy market beef food safety

摘要

A national survey of dairy producers assessed their willingness to improve safety of food products from their farms (response rate 9 percent). The majority considered a veterinarian as their first choice for information concerning dairy market foodsafety, with more than 33 percent reporting that they would pay for veterinarians to perform food safety assessments. Nearly half reported that they had been well informed by their veterinarians concerning food safety issues. Income from market beef wasimportant to 75 percent, but few had toured a slaughter facility and less than 35 percent were aware that HACCP was required in US slaughter facilities. Most believed that consumer food safety concerns affected their profits, but less than half reportedthat on-farm HACCP would reduce the risk of foodborne disease. Several reported that they would change practices if doing so would increase profits, and most preferred that profits come from incentives paid by slaughter establishments. Few preferred government subsidies, and most opposed on-farm government regulatory programs. Ultimately, respondents expected consumers to pay for on-farm food safety practices and expected little of the corresponding increase in price to trickle to them. Overall, resultsindicate that producers might benefit from better knowledge of HACCP. Further research is needed to help producers determine if implementing on-farm HACCP improves profits as well as public health.