Consumer knowledge and meat consumption at home and away from home q Steven T. Yen a, * , Biing-Hwan Lin b , Christopher G. Davis b a Department of Agricultural Economics, The University of Tennessee, 302 Morgan Hall, 2621 Morgan Circle, Knoxville, TN 37996-4518, United States b Economic Research Service, US Department of Agriculture, 1800 M Street NW, Washington, DC 20036-5831, United States article info Article history: Received 16 June 2007 Received in revised form 22 February 2008 Accepted 25 February 2008 Keywords: Censored dependent variables Dietary knowledge Maximum simulated likelihood Meat demand Simultaneous-equations system abstract We investigate the roles of consumer knowledge and sociodemographic factors in the consumption of meat products at home and away from home. Censored dependent variables and endogenous dietary knowledge are accommodated by developing and estimating a simultaneous-equations system. Results suggest endogeneity of knowledge and support the system approach to demand functions for meat prod- ucts. Dietary knowledge decreases consumption of beef and pork at home and away from home but does not affect poultry or fish consumption in either location. Men eat more meat and fish than women, meat consumption declines with age, and regional and racial/ethnic differences are present. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Introduction Over the past decade, the Federal government has promoted healthier eating and food manufacturers have responded by pro- viding foods, new or reformulated, with added healthy attributes and claims. Consumer awareness of the basic ingredients found in foods was heightened after the passage of the 1990 Nutritional Label and Education Act (NLEA). The NLEA requires mandatory food labeling on most packaged foods but not on fresh meats. Pack- ages for fresh meats often contain little or no nutritional informa- tion. Thus, consumers who purchase fresh meats such as beef, pork, poultry, and fish normally rely on personal dietary knowl- edge or the knowledge of a family member, associate, nutritionist, or health-care professional. Recent empirical evidence suggests, for instance, that dietary knowledge or advice provided by health-care professionals can improve individuals’ dietary behavior (Loureiro and Nayga, 2007). For many, meat is the main course of each meal. The US tops the world in per capita consumption of meats, followed by Spain and Denmark. Americans ate 200 pounds, boneless weight, of beef, pork, chicken, and fish per person in 2005 (USDA-ERS, 2008a). The purpose of this study is to determine whether dietary knowl- edge influences consumption of beef, pork, chicken, and fish prod- ucts by location. Although a great deal of information is available about beef, pork, poultry, and fish production, relatively little is known about the impact of dietary knowledge on the uses of these products. Descriptive analyses have been conducted to determine who eats beef and pork at home and away from home (Davis and Lin, 2005a,b), but no similar studies have been conducted for chicken or fish products. Lin et al. (2003) postulate that the changing racial and ethnic landscape in the US, the graying of Americans, and the growing popularity of eating out will influence future demands for beef, pork, poultry, and fish. Null (1978, p. 17) notes that ‘‘nutritional awareness is the first step to good health”. As obesity rates continue to climb, good diets have become more important in a society where the views on die- tary information about meat consumption are mixed. The new US Dietary Guidelines, jointly issued by the US Departments of Health and Human Services and Agriculture (USDA-USDHHS, 2005), place major emphasis on fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy products. However, little information is available as to how dietary guidelines influence consumers’ decisions to purchase cer- tain foods. Previous studies have addressed the role of dietary knowledge in the consumption of food products, including fats and oils (Chern et al., 1995; Kim and Chern, 1999), fat-modified foods (Coleman and Wilson, 2002), egg (Brown and Schrader, 1990), meat (Kaabia et al., 2001; Kinnucan et al., 1997), fruits and vegetables (MacLellan et al., 2004), grains (Lin and Yen, 2008), and 25 food groups con- sumed at and away from home (Lin et al., 2003). Dietary knowledge 0306-9192/$ - see front matter Published by Elsevier Ltd. doi:10.1016/j.foodpol.2008.02.006 q Research for this paper was supported by USDA-ERS Cooperative Agreements 43-3AEK-4-80048 and 43-3AEM-4-80052. The views in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the US Department of Agriculture. * Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 865 974 7474; fax: +1 865 974 4829. E-mail address: syen@utk.edu (S.T. Yen). Food Policy 33 (2008) 631–639 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Food Policy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foodpol