An Economic Assessment of Food Safety Regulations

Table 7--Comparison of HACCP rule costs for different size slaughter plants

Preliminary

1

Revised

2

Small

Medium

Large

Very small

Small

Large

Meat

plant

plant

plant

plant

plant

plant

Dollars per pound

Beef

0.0189

0.0012

0.0001

0.0062

0.0002

0.00006

Pork

d

0.0027

0.0004

d

0.0003

0.00003

Chicken

d

0.0044

0.0036

d

0.0008

0.00090

Turkey

d

0.0021

0.0011

d

0.0012

0.00120

The slaughter classes refer to five digit SIC codes 20111 (beef), 20114 (pork), 20151 (chicken), and 20153 (turkeys).

d=Shares that could not be disclosed due to confidentiality restrictions.

1

Preliminary estimate: small plants have sales of less than 2.5 million; medium plants have 2.5-50 million in sales; large plants

have over 50 million in sales.

2

Revised estimate: very small plants have sales of less than 2.5 million or less than 10 employees; small plants have 10-500

employees; and large plants have more than 500 employees.

Source: Economic Research Service, using the Longitudinal Research Database (LRD) at the Center for Economic Studies, U.S.

Bureau of the Census

---

15

Economic Research Service/USDA

An Economic Assessment of Food Safety Regulations

ences in regulatory costs across plants as shown in

table 7, possible geographic and service marketing

advantages of small plants and the low survival rates

of small plants, it would be difficult to distinguish the

impact of pathogen reduction rule costs from the

natural economic forces affecting plant survival.