| FALL 2004 UMASS
Amherst Operations Research / Management Science Seminar Series |
| Date:
Friday, October 29, 2004 Time: 11:00 AM Location: Isenberg School of Management, Room 128 |
| Speaker: Professor Julie A.
Caswell College of Natural Resources and the Environment University of Massachusetts at Amherst |
| Biography: Julie A. Caswell is a
Professor at the College of Natural Resources and the Environment at
the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Her work focuses on
understanding the operation of domestic and international food systems,
analyzing how well they work, and evaluating how government policy
affects their operation and performance. Her particular interest is in
the economics of food quality, especially the quality attributes of
safety and nutrition. How are markets for food safety and nutrition
developing given increased consumer demand for safer, more nutritious
products; manufacturers and retailers' efforts to meet this demand; and
increased regulatory activity by national governments to assure food
quality? She is also interested in the economics of certification,
traceability, and labeling for process attributes such as organic
production and use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Examples
of her work include how mandatory nutrition labeling is affecting
markets for food products; whether regulatory programs such as Hazard
Analysis at Critical Control Points (HACCP) will enhance food safety at
a reasonable cost; and how international trade agreements influence
food quality. A related interest is structure and strategies in the
food system. An example is how closer coordination of activities
between food producers, processors, and retailers, along with fewer,
large firms operating at each level in the chain of distribution, is
affecting food prices and choices available to consumers. See http://www.umass.edu/resec/faculty/caswell/index.html |
TITLE: What is the Most Effective Way to Produce Food Safety? |
|
Abstract:
Companies
make
decisions about how much food safety to produce based on market and
regulatory incentives. Governments make decisions about how to regulate
food safety production based on public health, analysis of benefits and
costs, and political considerations. What kind of Information is needed
to make better risk management choices? The Food Safety Research
Consortium is working on this question. Here I will give a guided tour
of the types of predictive modeling and economic analysis we are
developing to improve the management of microbial risks to public
health from food products.
|
| This series is organized by the
UMASS Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter. Support for this series is
provided by the Isenberg School of Management, the Department of
Finance and Operations Management, and the John F. Smith Memorial Fund. For questions, please contact the INFORMS Student Chapter President, Ms. Tina Wakolbinger, wakolbinger@som.umass.edu |