USDA's Economic Research Service
TopicsTopics

Stay Connected

Follow ERS on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS feeds
Subscribe to ERS e-Newsletters.aspx
Listen to ERS podcasts
Read ERS blogs at USDA

Did BSE Announcements Reduce Beef Purchases?

by Fred Kuchler and Abebayehu Tegene

Economic Research Report No. (ERR-34) 45 pp, December 2006

Cover image for ERS report "Did BSE Announcements Reduce Beef Purchases?" (ERR-34) This study examines consumers' retail purchases of beef and beef products for evidence of a response to the 2003 U.S. government announcements of finding cows infected with Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE). We constructed weekly estimates of quantities of beef products consumers purchased from 1998 through 2004 using ACNielsen Homescan data. While the variance in purchases was large, most could be explained by trend and seasonality. Deviations from established purchase patterns following the BSE announcements varied across beef products, but were limited to no more than 2 weeks in all cases.

Keywords: food safety, Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy, BSE, retail beef purchases, government announcements, retrospective analysis

In this publication...

Need help with PDFs?

Order this Publication

Last updated: Sunday, June 03, 2012

For more information contact: Fred Kuchler and Abebayehu Tegene