The LRD has data on all plants with more than 20 employees and a sample of those with
less than 20 employees. The LRD notes each plant's ownership and location, and provides
detailed information on employment, wages and benefits, building and machinery asset values,
new capital expenditures, energy use and costs, the physical quantities and dollar sales of seven
digit SIC code products, and the physical quantities and dollar expenses of detailed materials
purchases.
Data for effort devoted to sanitation and HACCP process control tasks for 2001 came
from FSIS. These regulatory compliance data include the number of SSOP sanitation and
HACCP process control tasks out of compliance with FSIS standards, the number of tasks
performed, and other process control data.
The Economic Research Service has a unique dataset containing information on plant
characteristics, market relationships with buyers and sellers, and meat and poultry food safety
technologies. The data were obtained in a survey containing approximately 40 questions on
meat and poultry food safety technology, 15 questions on the costs of PR/HACCP regulation,
various plant characteristics, and the types of markets plants serve. The 40 meat and poultry
food safety responses were used to create five meat and poultry food safety technology indices:
food safety equipment, food safety tests, hide-removal, sanitation, and food safety operating
practices. Index values are higher for large and small plants with more intensive meat and
poultry food safety activities. Refer to Ollinger, Moore, and Chandran (2004) for a complete
description of the indices and the ERS survey.
The final dataset includes data from the LRD, FSIS regulatory compliance reports, and
the ERS survey. Matching these data was a painstaking task requiring matches on names, zip
codes, and outputs. The limiting dataset was that of ERS. It covered only establishments in the