External cost from meat consumption raises an issue of possible government mechanisms toward mitigation. Economic theory provides a framework for determining the optimal set of mechanisms considering the associated benefits and costs. Such a theoretical development rests on the responsiveness of consumers to alternative mechanisms. Considering two mechanisms, a Pigouvian tax and green-label education, yields tandem theoretical optimal government mechanisms. Populating this theoretical model with empirically derived elasticities and other parameters provides an application. Results indicate education alone will likely not yield a high social-optimal level of mitigation. Instead, a Pigouvian tax will be required to move consumption toward a socially desired state. <br>

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Pork quality is an important issue for the whole meat chain, from producers, abattoirs, retailers through to costumers and is affected by a web of multi-factorial actions that occur throughout the pork production chain. A vast amount of information is available on how these diverse factors influence different pork quality traits. However, results derived from individual studies often vary and are in some cases even contradictory due to different experimental designs or different pork quality assessment techniques or protocols. Also, individual influencing factors are often studied in isolation, ignoring interacting effects. A suitable method is therefore required to account for a range of interacting factors, to combine the results from different experiments and to derive generic response-laws. The aim of this thesis was to use meta-analyses to produce quantitative, predictive models that describe how diverse factors affect pork quality over a range of experimental conditions.

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A microsomal glycoprotein hydrolyzing pantetheine to pantothenate and cysteamine has been solubilized and purified to homogeneity as determined by sodium dodecylsulfate electrophoresis. Four rapid, independent assays of pantetheine hydrolysis are described and compared along with a method for localizing enzymatic activity on polyacrylamide gels. The enzyme is solubilized on exposure to butanol and purified by heat treatment, (NH4)2SO4 fractionation, hydrophobic chromatography, and hydroxyapatite chromatography. The glycoprotein, purified 5600-fold in 22% yield, has a specific activity of 14 μmoles pantothenate produced/min/mg of protein, 35 times that previously reported. The enzyme has a pH optimum of 9.0-9.5 and a Km of 20 μM for D-pantetheine. Its molecular weight has been estimated by gel filtration (54,000) and sodium dodecylsulfate electrophoresis (60,000). Amino acid analysis indicates a high content of isoleucine (11.3 mole %) and phenylalanine (7.4 mole %) with an absorbancy index El%cm (280 nm) of 11 .3. Galactose, mannose, fucose, and glucose are present in decreasing concentrations totaling 90 μg of neutral hexoses per mg of protein. Galactosamine and sialic acid are also present. The enzymatic hydrolysis of various pantetheine analogs indicate the enzyme 1s specificity is high for the pantothenate moiety but low for the cysteamine portion. The enzyme should be useful in routine 11 total 11 pantothenate determinations in tissues.

In surimi manufacturing, less than 25% of the total weight of the fish is utilized. This research focused on meat recovery from fish frames, the residual portion of the fish after filleting headed and gutted fish. A new technology, the water jet deboning (WJD) system, was tested. The WJD system uses oscillating high pressure water jet nozzles to recover edible flesh from the frames without breaking the kidney located under the backbone. To evaluate the function of added salt on dewatering and process recovery, the WJD was operated without NaCl (WJD1) and with 0.2% NaCl added to the discharge slurry (WJD2). In conventional mechanical deboning process (MD), which was the other deboning system applied in the study, no salt was used. The recovered frame meat was further processed to surimi and then stored at -18��C. Meat recovery and surimi processing yields were compared between the three meat recovery processes. Functional properties of gels (texture and color) were evaluated after 1 and 6 mo frozen storage and compared to commercially manufactured surimi, which served as a control. As a result of manual trimming, the maximally recoverable meat from the frames was 42.8% of frame weight. MD showed the highest mince yield (mince prior to cryoprotectant addition), 24% of frame weight, while the two WJD methods resulted in only 5% yield. Color and shear strain for gels from WJD1, MD surimi and mixtures of those and control (10-20% frame mince surimi/80-90% control), were comparable to control. Gels from WJD2 showed significantly lower lightness (L*) but did not differ otherwise. Shear stress values of all frame meat surimi gels and the gels from mixtures of those and the control were significantly lower than the control. This low shear stress is probably due to a difference in processing equipment and processing conditions between the lab scale and the commercial scale. Due to the promising processing yield for the MD system an additional study was performed where effects of kidney and kidney blood contamination in the frame mince were investigated. Pacific whiting frames were mechanically deboned with/without kidney and the frame mince further processed into surimi. Functional properties of gels (texture and color) were evaluated after 1 and 6 mo frozen storage and compared to commercially manufactured surimi, which served as a control. At 1, 2, 4, and 6 mo, salt extractable proteins (SEP) concentration, dimethylamine (DMA) formation and pH were measured to monitor protein denaturation. Removing the kidney and washing the frames prior to MD resulted in higher gel strength after 1 and 6 mo frozen storage. / Graduation date: 2000

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One of the greatest challenges to developing successful marketing strategies in the food sector is gaining a better understanding of the diversity of consumer needs (Onwezen et al., 2012). It is important to understand consumer perceptions of beef, pork, lamb, chicken, and fish regarding consumption levels, price, nutrition, animal handling, and animal welfare to help the industry educate and market to consumers, as well as understand perceived misconceptions. Moral and ethical beliefs, consisting of concerns for animal welfare, are reported as main reasons to avoid meat (Hoek et al., 2004). Consumers view high animal welfare standards at the production stage as an indicator that the resulting food is safe, healthy and of high quality (Verbeke et al., 2010). To gain a better understanding of consumer perceptions, an online survey was developed utilizing Qualtrics Q University Survey software (Qualtrics Labs, Inc., Provo, UT, United States). A total of 1,602 surveys were completed. Data was analyzed utilizing PROC Mixed procedure of SAS (v9.3, SAS Institute, Cary, NC). Data was also analyzed using PROC Factor to determine factor analysis and Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Three consumer groups were determined: protein eaters, fish-only eaters, and vegetable-only eaters. Econometric analysis was also conducted using the Multinomial Logit (MNL) Model with STATA Statistics/Data Analysis (v12, StataCorp, College Station, TX). This model was designed to explain choice of protein eaters, fish-only, and vegetarian consumers. Varying levels of significance (P > | z | ≤ 0.01, 0.05, and 0.1) were used. Three groups were identified: protein eaters, fish-only, and vegetable protein-only. Consumer groups from both statistical analyses were evaluated for perceptions of beef, pork, lamb, chicken, and fish healthfulness, animal handling and animal welfare. The data indicated that females were less likely to consume animal protein by 4.4% while consumers with a history of family disease were more likely to consume animal protein by 3.3%. As income level increased, likelihood of consuming protein decreased for income levels of $30,000-$59,000 (9.9%), $60,000-$99,000 (9.4%), and $100,000-$199,000 (5.9%), respectively. Thirty-six percent of consumers indicated animal welfare was somewhat important, while another 22% and 11% responded that it was very important and extremely important, respectively. When asked how often they purchased natural/organic, grass-fed, and free-range/cage-free products, 50%, 60%, and 63%, respectively, indicated they purchased these products less than once every 2-3 months. Although consumers were emotionally invested in animal welfare, those emotions did not necessarily reflect purchasing habits.

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