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To estimate the <ol type="a">
<li> related costs and benefits within the meat processing and distribution channels; <li> economic benefits from reduced illness resulting from the reduction in pathogens; and <li> direct consumer benefits in terms of consumer willingness-to-pay for safer meat.</ol>
Methods used for objective (a) will include an economic engineering estimate of the cost of the technology and an estimate of the benefits of reduced spoilage based on discussions with ARS & industry personnel. Methods for objectives (b) & (c) will be based on previous studies of the cost of meat-borne pathogenic illnesses and on previous experimental and supermarket studies of willingness-to-pay for improved food safety. The study will not undertake any surveys or conduct any experiments to estimate consumers' willingness-to-pay for decreased pathogenic risks resulting from this specific technology. Reduction in risk due to the technology will be estimated from experiments with this technology and related food-borne illness experiments. Evidence from previous studies of benefits of reduced risks in similar circumstances will be adduced to allow an estimate of the value of reduction in risks of illness.