Food Safety and Nutrition Section Track Sessions

The purpose of this session is to examine the role of non-price marketing strategies employed by firms in the food industry. While the primary intention of marketing is to facilitate exchange between buyers and sellers, this session will focus on the impact food marketing has on the subsequent nutritional quality of consumer food purchases. This session encourages important discussion of the impact of food marketing strategies on consumers’ diet. Given the current obesity crisis and proposals for regulating industry marketing practices, this is a particularly timely topic.

Food safety is something we all desire and yet there are numerous challenges and issues that need to be addressed today and as the systems we depend on continue to evolve. Implementing strategies and assigning responsibilities within the systems that produce and deliver the basic foods we require to sustain life (and a large portion of several economies) necessitate we address the risks and mitigation protocols for various agents. This session will start with a 5-minute overview of The Food Safety Modernization Act from discussant Sandy Hoffmann, followed by a sequence of four papers on how producers, food companies, consumers and others will be directly impacted by new programs and standards regarding foods. Presentations from those researching food safety protocols will provide additional insights and frame questions for continued research through examination of producer indemnification for food safety events and the role of private standards; the management of zero-tolerance rules when detection can be impractical or impossible; and the costs of adopting food safety programs at the farm-level.

Nutritional conditions are changing rapidly around the world, driven by socioeconomic development and policy interventions. Agricultural economists have made notable contributions to understanding and shaping these changes. The four presentations in this session will address the experience and strategy of the Gates Foundation; the evolving role of nutrition in chronic disease; the influence of gender roles in agriculture on food production choices; and the role of information in the market for infant foods. These findings showcase AAEA members' work in international nutrition, and point to new opportunities for research and intervention.

This joint track session focuses on analyzing the impacts of the food environment on consumer preferences. Given that organic foods transition from niche products to mainstream goods, two presentations address the effects of changing the food context in the organic market. Furthermore, two presentations determine food demand impacts via limiting access to certain foods or providing food labels.

The 2012 Farm Bill will be negotiated under exceptional pressures related to budget deficits, environmental concerns, energy independence, food insecurity and food price inflation. This session will focus on the impact of these pressures on the Nutrition Title and on the changing food production, environment related to demands for sustainability, transparency and non-food uses of major crops, namely fuel. The role of agricultural and food policy in supporting human health increases; its advantages and limits will be explored. Speakers will address these issues followed by a moderated discussion.

As the effects of the obesity epidemic continue to be felt, it is clear that the way Americans eat needs to be improved. This session provides insights from current research into changing U.S. health dynamics and thoughts on potential solutions. The roles of economic and time constraints, consumer attitudes, public policy incentives to change behavior, and the link between food retailers’ corporate social responsibility strategies and the supply of healthier products to the market will be addressed.