Meat + Poultry - July 2004 - 67

ment used in the past 25 years to significantly reduce Campylobacter in research
trials on chickens. The bacteriocins reduce
the numbers of Campylobacter by a millionfold when fed to chickens. The ARS
has said that bacteriocins could provide an
effective alternative to antibiotics the
poultry industry uses to control pathogenic
bacteria.

FSI NUMBERS

IS THE YEAR
plastic milk containers
were commercially
introduced.

Restaurant gets
"humane treatment"
certification
■ The Hunter's Head Tavern, about 50
miles west of Washington, D.C., has become the first restaurant in the nation to
receive certification for the humane treatment of the animals on its menu. Nearby
Ayrshire Farm is the exclusive supplier of
meat for the tavern. Sandy Lerner, a cofounder of Cisco Systems, owns both the
farm and the
restaurant.
Humane Farm
Animal Care
conducted the
certification
program.
The group
works to get
humanely
raised meat
products in
supermarkets
and restaurants by offering standards for
humane food production and certification
of these standards.
A Golin/Harris Research study of 300
consumers, on behalf of the United Egg
Producers, found that 75 percent of American consumers said they would choose
food products certified as protecting animal care over those that are not. Respondents also said that they would make that
choice even if the products might cost
more. Fifty-four percent said they would
be willing to spend 5-10 percent more,
and 10 percent of respondents said they
would pay 15-20 percent more.

PERCENT
fewer human illnesses
from E. coli
were reported last year.

Opinions of the
family farm
■ According to a national consumer opinion poll of 1,000 adults, Americans say that
small-scale family farms are more likely to
care about food safety than large-scale industrial farms by a 71 percent to 15 percent margin. The poll was conducted by
Roper Public Affairs for Organic Valley
Family of Farms, an independent national
organic farmers' cooperative.
In addition, 69 percent of polled consumers said smaller-scale family farms are
more likely than large-scale industrial
farms to use techniques that won't harm
the environment. Another find was that
women (79 percent) are more likely than
men (61 percent) to say that pesticides,
hormones and antibiotics used to produce
many foods pose a moderate or high risk
to human health.
Other findings showed that twothirds of Americans said they would pay
more for foods produced without pesticides, antibiotics and hormones, and 51
percent said they would be willing to pay
a premium for foods produced with humane treatment of animals. Forty-two percent said they would not pay more.
One thing was missing from the survey: what defines a family farm?

MILLION
diners flocked daily
to McDonald's
in 2003.

MILLION
DOLLARS
worth of
U.S. agricultural goods
were purchased
by Cuba last year.

PERCENT
of Americans
believe cheese
is part of a
healthy diet.

JULY 2004 FOOD SYSTEMS ınsıder FSI

Meat + Poultry - July 2004

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