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An evaluation of staff food safety behaviour in 91 butchers’ shops was conducted using direct observation and questionnaires. The investigation focused on behaviour that could lead to cross‐contamination during the handling of ready‐to‐eat high‐risk products. It was found that the businesses lacked separate staff for handling cooked products but had separate equipment, surfaces and utensils for raw and cooked products. Equipment that was most likely not to be segregated included vacuum packers, film wrappers and chillers. Work routines appeared to provide many opportunities for contamination of hand and food contact surfaces. Unsatisfactory cleaning procedures were observed; the main defects being inadequate cleaning frequency, incorrect use of wiping cloths, improper use of cleaning chemicals, neglect of hand contact surfaces. The results are discussed in relation to the establishment of an effective HACCP system and recommendations for improving food safety behaviour that will control potential cross‐contamination are given.

This chapter explores two business and innovation strategies to increase sustainability in a small-medium enterprise. The two strategies, one addressing the improved sustainability of an existing product line and the other addressing the development and implementation of a new product line, employ different supply chain sustainable practices and utilize different dynamic capabilities.

The chapter describes how sustainable supply chain management practices, sustainable new product development processes, and theories of dynamic capabilities interact to support a sustainable and differentiated strategy in the Alcass organization.

The models of sustainable supply chain management and sustainable new product development are applied to “more sustainable” products and “new sustainable” products, by raising different relevant practices as well as different supporting dynamic capabilities.

Given that coupons are one of the most popular promotional tools, this paper aims to investigate how intention to redeem the coupon is affected by the face value of the coupon for most common grocery items.

Data were collected using a self‐administered questionnaire from a convenience sample of students and non‐students (total sample size 425) at a south‐western metropolitan university campus town.

The results suggest that, for low face values of coupon, intention to redeem is positively associated with face value, whereas, for the higher face values of the coupon, the intention remains more or less unchanged. The correlation between intention to redeem the coupon and the perceived sticker price of the product is positive at the lower levels of coupon face value, but becomes negative for higher face values.

One major limitation is the narrow choice of grocery products. Moreover, this study explored intention to redeem a coupon but does not consider the actual purchase behavior. Future studies might test whether the results extrapolate to other products.

The findings are critical for the manager who may be cautioned against indiscriminate issuance of coupons. Specifically, keeping in mind the possible negative effects of a coupon, the manager might contemplate introducing customer segment‐specific coupons. The findings also suggest that coupons may be used for repositioning.

This research partially fills a void about lack of research on coupons from a price perspective. Negative effects of a coupon explained in terms of both marketing and economic theory may be appealing across different disciplines.

The objective of the study was to assess consumer exposure to warmed-over flavour, their eating habits with respect to pre-cooked stored meats, awareness of antioxidants and attitudes towards the use of natural antioxidants as preservatives in meat and meat products.

A total of 238 Check-All-That-Apply (CATA) design questionnaires were used to gather information from the University of Fort Hare community in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa.

The majority of the respondents had been exposed to warmed-over flavour before. More than half of the respondents did not know about antioxidants. Respondents were in support of the use of natural antioxidants in meat and meat products.

The study mainly captured consumer habits based on living arrangements. Age influence could not be extrapolated due to the nature of the population, which was being studied. The population was limited to the University community, which is mainly made up of not so widely spread age groups and more or less similar levels of education. As a result, the findings and conclusions may not be a true reflection of the general public consumers in terms of age, level of education and employment status.

This research presents an original insight into consumer habits concerning the purchasing and storage of pre-cooked meat and meat products. The study revealed that most consumers nowadays prefer ready-to-eat or pre-cooked meat and meat products due to convenience. The warmed-over flavour is common in pre-cooked meats. The findings suggests that the meat industry has to improve the shelf-life of pre-cooked foods such that warmed-over flavour development is delayed to fit into the current consumer habits. In recent years there has been a growing interest in the use of natural antioxidants to improve shelf-life of muscle foods. However, there is a dearth of information on consumer attitudes towards the use of natural antioxidants as preservatives. This study reveals that consumers are willing to try products formulated using natural antioxidants.

Butchers Licensing Regulations have been in force for two years. They require premises which handle unwrapped raw meat and sell raw meat alongside ready to eat foods to operate fully documented food safety management systems. These management systems are in keeping with the seven principles of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) as detailed by the Codex and are aimed at ensuring food safety and at improving consumer protection. This article focuses on the initial first year work undertaken by Derby City Council to get its 29 butcher’s shops successfully licensed. Data collated and evaluated is presented which gives a clear picture of standards in premises before and after licensing. Standards in the majority of the premises significantly improved and butchers attitudes in general appear to be more positive towards food safety. However substantial costs have been associated with licensing. There are important implications from these costs if the government is to consider licensing the rest of the UK food businesses.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the optimization of high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) processing for the microbial inactivation on low-sodium sliced vacuum-packaged turkey breast supplemented with a natural antimicrobial compound (carvacrol).

A response surface methodology was used to model and describe the effects of different pressures (200–650 MPa) and holding times (30–300 s) during HHP processing of low-salt ready-to-eat turkey breast supplemented with 200 mg/kg of carvacrol on survival of the target pathogen (Listeria sp.) and spoilage microflora and on the quality attributes, including pH, syneresis, CIE color and lipid oxidation.

The HHP parameters influenced (p<0.05) the lethality rates and syneresis but did not affect the pH values and lipid oxidation of the products evaluated. According to the required performance criteria for Listeria post-lethality treatment, a treatment at 600 MPa/180 s (at 25°C) appears to be suitable for the studied low-sodium product. The HHP bacterial inactivation effects can notably be potentiated via the presence of carvacrol, and is useful at sensory acceptable sub-inhibitory levels.

This study shows that combined HHP plus additives may produce similar safety and shelf-life extension effects with mild HHP treatments, creating a global increase in the quality of HHP-processed food in addition to reducing costs on equipment maintenance and increasing industry productivity.

The aim of this paper is to evaluate the hygiene of surfaces that come into direct contact with the ready to eat dried meat product, biltong, at point‐of‐sale in three different retailers in Johannesburg, South Africa, by investigating the presence of indicator organisms.

Samples were collected and plated in duplicate for aerobic plate, total Enterobacteriaceae, coliforms and Escherichia coli counts using standard methods. Typical E. coli colonies on Rapid E. coli 2 Agar™ were selected and further identified using 16S rDNA molecular sequencing methods.

Bacterial counts associated with biltong product ranged between 6–7 Log CFU/g, while counts on cutting utensils ranged between 5–6 Log CFU/cm². Overall, the lowest counts were associated with display cabinets (2–6 Log CFU/cm²). Predominant populations were often similar between biltong product and various surface samples, indicating potential cross‐contamination. Results from 16S rDNA sequence analysis showed that E. coli strains isolated from biltong product and correspondingly from cutting utensils, were 100 per cent genetically similar. Strains of potential pathogens belonging to the Shigella dysenteriae group (99 per cent) were also identified.

This paper highlights that surfaces in direct contact with biltong, an increasingly popular dried meat commodity worldwide, may act as potential sources for cross‐contamination of product with potential food‐borne pathogens, which may hold foodborne illness implications.

This paper seeks to analyze consumer preferences toward fresh rabbit meat and obstacles and interest in consuming the product.

The paper uses the dual response choice experiment (DRCE) design which allows for analyzing forced and unforced options in choice experiments using the same sample. The heteroscedastic extreme‐value (HEV) model is used due to its relaxation of the restrictive assumption made in the multinomial logit model regarding the identically distributed error term across alternatives. The empirical analysis uses consumer‐level questionnaires to elicit information regarding consumer attitudes toward rabbit meat in Catalonia (Spain).

The results demonstrate a higher preference for rabbit meat from “Catalan” origin followed by higher quality certification information. Convenience and “ready‐to‐eat” products made from rabbit meat may help bolster increased consumption. An effective communication campaign is needed to educate individuals regarding the health characteristics of rabbit compared to other types of meat. Furthermore, results demonstrate that the ordering of attributes is not significantly different from forced and non‐forced choices obtained from the DRCE design. However, significant differences on the magnitude of the preferences for some attributes' levels are found.

From a methodological point‐of‐view, the study follows a similar design to the dual response choice experiments. However, the study is differentiated by asking consumers whether they are willing to buy the product. More emphasis is made on the purchasing context of the task leading consumers to focus more on their budget constraints by considering the price. The study uses the DRCE design as an alternative of the traditional single stage choice experiments. Owing to budgets constraint, the study could be improved by comparing results from both designs. At the empirical level, it would be interesting to extend the study to other geographical parts in Spain.

The study can help policy makers in stimulating demand for rabbit meat. Rabbit meat farmers in Catalonia were forced to abandon their farms due to the lack of demand. Consumption has decreased dramatically. As recommended in the paper, high quality labelling of the meat, improving the carcass format and its presentation and the healthiest characteristic of the meat could be a good way to promote and stimulate demand.

From the empirical point‐of‐view, this study, to the authors' knowledge, is the first application of CE and CV to analyze consumers' preferences towards rabbit meat. Furthermore, it is the first paper that applies the HEV model in agro‐food economics and specifically towards rabbit meat.

Directive 93/43/EEC introduced the concept of good hygiene practice, in response to a pan‐European increase in the incidence of food poisoning, to foster a preventive approach to food safety. UK legislation reinforces the EU position that food businesses are responsible for the implementation of good hygiene practices. The response of the food industry has been to develop audited standards of hygiene, higher than explicit legal requirements. Small businesses have, however, been slow to adopt industry hygiene standards. A case study of small manufacturers of ready to eat meat products investigated the reasons for this. Businesses were first audited to the EFSIS[1] standard, to compare current practice with recommended best practice. Second, technical managers or owner‐managers were interviewed, to gain an insight into their knowledge of industry standards in particular, and the process of hygiene management in general. The analysis found significant differences in the knowledge of technical managers and owner‐managers, with the latter often unaware of the existence of audited standards. It is argued, therefore, that, in order to increase the implementation of good hygiene practices, further programmes to inform small food businesses about industry standards are required.

The objective of this study was to explore the use of auditing as a tool for continual improvement in the meat industry of Southwestern Ontario, Canada. Participants in the study represented the supply chain and included federal slaughterhouses, federal processors of ready‐to‐eat meat products, government agencies involved in auditing and inspection, and the retail sector involved in the auditing of meat facilities. Using in‐depth interviews, the extent of auditing and its implementation on the continual improvement process were explored. Auditing activities were conducted as required for government recognition, retailer approval, and the facility's maintenance of its Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) programme. Correction of deviations identified during audits led to continual improvement activities. However, only two of the participants described secondary quality management schemes that linked auditing with continual improvement.