Executive Director, Issues Management — NCBA Summary
The checkoff-funded beef safety tracking survey conducted
in November 2004 found that fresh beef steaks/roasts remained
the protein with the highest consumer confidence in safety. The
survey asks consumers to give grades to foods for being safe to
eat and 76 percent of survey respondents gave steak/roast an A
or B for safety.
Background
The beef safety tracking surveys are quarterly telephone
surveys of a national, random sample of U.S. adults.
Vegetarians do not answer the survey. The margin of error for
survey data is plus/minus 3.2 percent.
General food safety
The percentage of Americans giving U.S. food in general an
A or B for safety has remained relatively stable with some small
fluctuations in the past year. However, this survey found the
percentage of A/B grades (70%) significantly lower than in
November 2003 (74%) and at the lowest score since November
2002 (69%). The November 2004 score is much lower than the
77 percent measured during the last survey in May 2004.
Safety of specific fresh foods
The safety ratings for specific fresh foods remained stable
during the past year with no significant differences in the
ratings in November 2004. Fresh fruits and vegetables are
consistently at the top of the list when it comes to safety grades
given to specific fresh foods one might buy in a grocery store.
Fresh beef steaks and roasts receive the highest meat product
safety grade (76%).
Tied for second place with 70 percent of consumers grading
A or B were fresh pork chops and microwaveable foods. Foods
with lower consumer safety grades were fresh ground beef
(64%), fresh chicken (63%), fresh fish (60%), fresh ground pork
(56%) and pre-prepared foods from the deli (52%).
Specific concerns regarding food safety
The safety tracking survey asks consumers to rate their level
of concern about specific safety issues on a 5-point scale, with
one being not concerned and five being extremely concerned.
The percentage of “top two” scores (4-5 ratings on the scale)
indicate the issues of greatest concern.
Safety issues tend not to be top of mind with consumers,
evidenced by the fact that safety issues barely register when
consumers state reasons for eating less beef. However, when
asked to think about specific safety concerns, bacteria (62%)
and pesticides (62%) top the list. Consumer concerns about
chemical additives (58%) and mad cow disease (57%) make up
a second tier of safety concerns. Concerns about mad cow
disease did not increase significantly as a result of the first U.S.
case of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in December
2003, and in fact, currently are significantly lower than the 61
percent concern level measured in November 2003.
Genetic engineering on animals is the latest experimental practice used in the world of biomedical research. It has allowed the progression of human understanding towards the study of diseases and medicine. With the emergence of this technology, comes a wide range of ethical issues that need to be addressed, such as the welfare and the uncertainty of predisposed risk towards the animal. Furthermore, the current state of this practice in the United States is still new. Therefore, there is little regulation by the government along with the scientific community in enforcing specific guidelines to consider the welfare of the animals. The implication of the scarcity of regulating genetic engineering opens the possibilities of mistreatment of animals
American society has grown so accustomed to receiving their food right away and in large quantities. Only in the past few decades has factory farming come into existence that has made consuming food a non guilt-free action. What originally was a hamburger with slaughtered cow meat is now slaughtered cow meat that’s filled with harmful chemicals. Not only that, the corn that that cow was fed with is also filled with chemicals to make them grow at a faster rate to get that hamburger on a dinner plate as quickly as possible. Bryan Walsh, a staff writer for Time Magazine specializing in environmental issues discusses in his article “America’s Food Crisis” how our food is not only bad for us but dangerous as well. The word dangerous could apply to many different things though. Our food is dangerous to the consumer, the workers and farmers, the animals and the environment. Walsh gives examples of each of these in his article that leads back to the main point of how dangerous the food we are consuming every day really is. He goes into detail on each of them but focuses his information on the consumer.
LongHorn Steakhouse in Winter Garden, Florida dishes out consistently tasty food and very satisfying portions. The eatery even has an accommodating kid’s menu. At LongHorn Steakhouse, the bar area features televisions for those who want to sit back and catch up on a sporting event. It is open every day for lunch and dinner services.
The case of Burger King Corporation v. Rudzewicz, 471 U.S. 462, 105 S. Ct. 2174, 85 L. Ed. 2d 528 (1985) addressed the issue of personal jurisdiction and whether or not it violates the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. The plaintiff, Burger King, is a Florida corporation whose principal offices are located in Miami. The defendant, John Rudzewicz, was a resident of Michigan and a principal of a Michigan franchise. Rudzewicz, as a franchisee owner, had been given a license to use Burger King’s name and logo (trademarks) to operate a Burger King in Michigan. The contract between the franchisor and franchisee stated that the franchisor relationship (contract) is under the control of Florida. Other provisions of the contract include required monthly payments of fees and royalties to Miami headquarters, and all major decisions and problems had to be communicated with headquarters. In addition, the franchisee had to conduct business at a leased restaurant facility for 20 years. However, the defendant failed to fulfill franchisee obligations by not keeping up with his monthly payments of fees and royalties that he owed to Burger King in Florida. As a result, Burger King sued for a diversity suit against Rudzewicz in an effort to get back the money that they were owed. Burger King claimed a breach of contract, specifically the “Franchise Agreement”, between Burger King (the franchisor) and Rudzewicz (the franchisee). The case eventually made it all the way to the United States Supreme Court (Case Briefs).
Social inequality consists of members of gender, sexual orientation, and race being isolated or not treated as equally as others. Individuals who identify as being a different sexual orientation than what is considered “normal”, like homosexual or transgender, face discrimination when it comes to children, healthcare, housing, and work. Women face many challenges as well, like being paid less than men: seventy-nine cents to every man’s dollar. If one is looking at positions of power, it can be seen that women hold significantly less positions than men. The average CEO, or the people in charge of a company, are more commonly men than women, as women are not taken as seriously when it comes to business. “For example, media often reinforce negative stereotypes about women such as dumb blondes, passive Asian Americans, or pushy African Americans,” (Shaw and Lee 61) which paints women in a bad image and is where this negative connotation of women is stemmed
Inflation plays a big role in the increase of prices, but it does not cause a price increase of R12 for a burger over the last 5 years. Other factors such as: an increase in rent, the increasing of minimum wage and trade union fees, increase in bond rates and interest rates also play a role in the price increases. On top of all of that, VAT and taxes are also added to the cost of each meal. The cost price of a product is determined by many factors and Steers has to add a decent profit margin. These various factors all contribute to the price increase but it has nothing to do with the customer service, or the lack thereof. If the customers felt that they were getting their money’s worth of food and customer service then there wouldn’t be any problem, people would be happy to pay the prices
Widely considered a revolutionary scientific breakthrough, genetic engineering has been on a path toward changing the world since its introduction in 1973 by Stanley Cohen and Herbert Boyer (What). However, as genetic engineering slowly permeates the lives of humanity, the morals and ethics behind what are now common practices are entering public attention, and as a culture we are left to question whether the change brought on by such a discovery bring benefits and positive change, or damage and destruction. Genetic engineering is justified through applied bioethics and despite arguments against its societal implantation, should be fully utilized in efforts to develop into the 21st century.
The advent of genetic engineering leads to many medical and agricultural innovations that benefit the world. From preventing/curing diseases, to increasing agriculture production, the miraculous effects of genetic engineering are the next step in evolution for the scientific community. The benefits of such powerful technology may seem like science fiction, however, it is very possible that genetic engineering may become an everyday occurrence in the years to come. However, such advancements in technology, especially since genetic engineering is in its infancy, often have questionable ethical concerns. Ethical concerns such as human rights, equal distribution, and long-term outcomes/effects, often appear as important areas of discussion for those who question the morality that is involved in genetic engineering. Three ethical concerns pertaining to genetic engineering are Eudaimonistic Utilitarianism, Libertarianism, and Distributive Justice. Eudaimonistic Utilitarianism can be described as
An abundance of Americans have no idea that most of the food that they consume are either processed or altered in one way or another. “Almost all beef cattle entering feedlots in the United States are given hormone implants to promote faster growth. The first product used for this purpose is DES (diethylstilbestrol) it was approved for use in beef cattle in 1954. An estimated two-thirds of the nation's beef cattle were treated with DES in 1956. (Swan, Liu, Overstreet, Brazil, and Skakkebaek)” Many people enjoy the various meats that comes from a cow, but that would probably change if the consumers knew that cattle is one of the most processed meat source in the market today because of the synthetic hormones that the cows are given. “ The three synthetic hormones are the estrogen compound zeranol, the androgen trenbolone acetate, and progestin melengestrol acetate. (Swan, Liu, Overstreet, B...
...ough quality or enough service, satisfaction will result. However, we have evidence to support that quality and service alone can not produce recurrent satisfaction. Satisfaction is a distinct and separate issue.
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