Pork slaughter and processing sector facility-level model, final report, contract no. 53-3A94-03-12, delivery order 9

Abstract

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA, FSIS) contracted with RTI International to develop a pork slaughter and processing facility-level model with a proper user interface, product market characterization, and documentation for use by FSIS in regulatory impact analysis. The model uses data for fiscal year (FY) 2004, the most recent year for the data in the Enhanced Facilities Database (EFD); thus, analyses using the model will be based on a 2004 baseline. Using this model, analysts can input estimates of the costs of complying with a regulation and obtain estimates of the facility, market, and economic welfare effects of the regulation. RTI developed the model using data characterizing the following pork market categories: § market hogs (includes barrows and gilts) and § other hogs (includes sows, stags, and boars). The data used to develop the model were obtained from the 2005 update of the EFD, a database of meat, poultry, and egg facilities operating in the United States; the results of a survey of the meat slaughter industry, fielded by FSIS in late 2004; and market-level data available from published sources. The model is designed so that FSIS can use it to estimate the economic effects of possible future regulations affecting pork plants. In particular, estimates of the costs of proposed regulations can be developed and incorporated into the model to address FSIS’s analysis needs.