Finnish Salmonella Control Program -- Efficiency and Viability in Food Safety Promotion

When joining the EU, Finland was granted a permission to run its own food safety policy concerning Salmonella. The policy is called Finnish Salmonella Control Program (FSCP) and it covers the main animal production lines: pork, beef, poultry, and also the products thereof e.g. meat and eggs. By committing to follow an EU Commission approved national program Finland received so called additional guarantees from the EU. These guarantees allow it to require respective salmonella protection levels from similar products imported to the country. In order to continue the program its economic efficiency has to be thoroughly evaluated. The objective of FCSP is that no more than 1% of the animals and meat should be contaminated with Salmonella at the national level. Respectively, at the abattoir or meat cutting plant level the goal is 5% . These quite strict objectives were reached well in 1995-2001. The industry is responsible for running the program in practice. National authorities have their emphasis in coordination, collecting of data and supervision. The costs of the program are almost fully carried by the industry. This paper evaluates the efficiency and viability of FSCP as a whole. It can be concluded, that money used running the program is well-spent: health benefits produced, estimated either using a cost-of-illness type of calculations or a willingness-to-pay measure from a consumer survey are many times larger than the costs of the program. In the end it can be concluded that FSCP is a good example of economically viable tool for sustaining public health.food safety, salmonella control, policy evaluation, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Agricultural Production with Change and Uncertainty: A Temporal Case Study Simulation of Colorado Potato Beetle

Changes in climatic and policy environments combined with uncertainty related to stochastic environmental fluctuations make design of invasive pest policy challenging. These external changes are often exacerbated by changes in the species characteristics. We discuss facing local change and uncertainty when deciding ex ante on a specific policy strategy. Our empirical case deals with an invasive agricultural pest, Colorado potato beetle, and agricultural production in Finland. Invasions are modelled as temporally random events and stochasticity in key variables is built into the analysis. The viability of two specific policy options is evaluated given uncertainty and local change.Colorado potato beetle, protected zone, zone protegee, invasive alien species, Crop Production/Industries, Q1, Q28, Q58,

Costs and Benefits of Two Alternative Salmonella Control Policies in Finnish Broiler Production

In this study, costs and benefits of two Salmonella control options in broiler production were compared. The first option was to control Salmonella as set by Council Directive 92/117/EEC, so-called Zoonosis Directive. The second option was more intense control programme, the so-called Finnish Salmonella control programme. The costs of controlling Salmonella in primary and secondary production and the direct and indirect losses due to Salmonella infection in humans in both options were compared. The national control option was found to be economically feasible. One prevented loss of life covered all the control costs of the national programme.Salmonella, broiler, cost-benefit, control, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Technical Barrier Effects of a Food Safety Measure – a Case of Finnish Salmonella Control Program

In this paper, indirect costs of Finnish Salmonella Control Program (FSCP) due to its trade effects are evaluated. FSCP is a part of Finnish biosecurity policies intended to shield Finnish food supply and consumption chain from salmonella outbreaks. The program directly increases costs of importing by e.g. requiring costly certificates for imports. Additionally, it may cause anxiety to suppliers of imports as there are added uncertainties in the import process. As similar requirements apply to domestic suppliers, the program should not be thought of as a technical trade barrier (TBT), however, it may affect trade flows indirectly and effects may be assessed in a similar manner as those of TBT’s. The evaluation of the trade effects is performed using a combined price wedge-gravity approach and they are quantified as tariff-equivalents. After determining the tariff equivalent, sensitivity results are provided as some of the parameter values used in the calculation are difficult to observe directly.International trade, biosecurity, welfare analysis, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Costs of two alternative Salmonella control policies in Finnish broiler production

BACKGROUND: Costs and benefits of two Salmonella control policies for broiler production were described and compared. The control options were the Zoonosis Directive 92/117/EC and the more intense strategy, the Finnish Salmonella Control Programme (FSCP). METHODS: The comparison included the Salmonella control costs in primary and secondary production and the direct and indirect losses due to Salmonella infections in humans in 2000. RESULTS: The total annual costs of the FSCP were calculated to be 990 400 EUR (0.02 €/kg broiler meat). The average control costs in the broiler production chain were seven times higher with the FSCP than with the Zoonosis Directive alone. However, the public health costs were 33 times higher with the Zoonosis Directive alone. The value of one prevented loss of life per year exceeded the annual control costs of the FSCP. CONCLUSION: Due to significant savings in public health costs compared to costs of FSCP, the FSCP was found to be economically feasible

Social licence for the utilization of wild berries in the context of local traditional rights and the interests of the berry industry

Everyman’s right, as applied in Finland and other Nordic countries, allows the picking of natural products (wild berries, mushrooms, etc.) regardless of land ownership. Harvesting and selling natural products has been an important source of income in rural areas of northern Finland. As household berry picking has more or less replaced small-scale commercial berry picking, foreign seasonal pickers are now supplying raw material for the berry industry. This has aroused vivid discussions about the limits of everyman’s right and inhabitants’ rights to local natural resources. Critics claim that commercially organized berry picking makes it difficult for inhabitants to fully use natural resources. In this article, we present the results of a survey aimed at natureoriented, mainly northern residents of Finland and a telephone and e-mail service to which residents of northern Finland sent feedback regarding foreign berry pickers. The results of the survey and the feedback show that, in general, organized berry picking by foreign labourers is accepted if some basic guidelines or rules are respected. These guidelines may stem from local customary laws or traditions which have regulated berry picking. Another factor which would improve local acceptance and promote social licence for organized berry picking by foreign and non–local labourers is the distribution of benefits. At present, the advantages of organized berry picking are seen as benefiting stakeholders outside the local community, whereas local communities have to bear the costs: for example, increased berry picking activity in areas which they have utilized for a prolonged time, sometimes through generations

Three approaches to mathematical models for Finnish natural resource management

With the Kyoto protocol and scientific evidence mounting, the debate on how to mitigate greenhouse gases has intensified. In Finland, many have questioned whether the agricultural sector could reduce itŽs share of greenhouse gases by using biomass energy as a replacement for fossil fuels. The first of these three essays investigates whether and under what conditions biomass energy production on Finnish agricultural land could be justified. The other two essays are more general studies on the incentives of landowners in growing and managing energy and other crops. The second essay inroduces an approach that disentangles risk and intertemporal preferences of a private entrepreneur`s management decisions. Finally, the third essay uses modern programming methods to develop insights into a farmerŽs decision making. The first essay deals specifically with the question; how to divide up the agricultural land for alternative uses (food production and biomass energy production) and how much nuclear power to produce. It is shown that when pollution is any concern, the biomass could be one suitable energy alternative. A clear land pressure between food and biomass energy feedstock production is also demonstrated. In the second essay, a forest ownerŽs utility is modeled using recursive preference approach. The approach allows a researcher to disentangle risk-aversion and intertemporal substitution, and thus it provides policymakers with new information. The recursive preference approach is a spedial case of expected utility formulation, and therefore, it enables the outcomes from these models to be easily compared. According to the analysis, risk aversion seems to have an insignificant effect on management profiles. Istead, intertemporal substitution has a profound effect, futher strengthened when the intertemporal elasticity of substitution is low. The third essay is an application of mathematical programming to help shed light on a farmerŽs decision making process. The positive mathematical programming (PMP) is used to calibrate a mathematical model to a multiyear data set, and maximum entropy (ME) is used to determine cross-effects of different activities in a cost function of a farmer. The program performance is tested out-of-sample on different levels of data aggregation. The main findings are that the model performs well, and the ability to use more detailed data produce better results in calibration. However, with this particular data, the better calibration fit does not translate to significantly better forecasting results.vokMTT TaloustutkimusDissertation for the degree of doctor of philosophy in agricultural and resource economics in the university of California-Davis. The PH.D. degree awarded december 16, 2000

Eulerin ф-funktion ominaisuuksia

Eulerin ф-funktio on yksi lukuteorian tunnettuja funktioita. Se kertoo jotakin lukua pienempien tämän luvun kanssa keskenään jaottomien lukujen lukumäärän. Tässä tutkielmassa käydään läpi erilaiset lukuteorian perusteet ф-funktiota lähestyen. Tämän jälkeen osoitetaan funktion käytännöllisiä ja mielenkiintoisia ominaisuuksia, minkä jälkeen tutkitaan erilaisia funktion ф sisältäviä yhtälöitä

Clinical significance of treatment delay in status epilepticus

BACKGROUND: Status epilepticus (SE) is a medical emergency that requires immediate action. The clinical and demographic features of SE are known to be highly variable. The objective of this study was to analyze the effect of treatment delays on patient recovery and different clinical factors that are important in the determination of the acute prognosis in SE. METHODS: This population-based study included 109 consecutive visits of patients with the diagnosis of SE in the emergency department (ED) of Tampere University Hospital. The clinical features of SE were compared with the discharge condition. RESULTS: The treatment delays were long; in half of the patients, the delay for paramedic arrival was over 30 min, and in one-third of the cases, the delay was over 24 h. ED patients who had less than 1 h of delay before the administration of an antiepileptic drug (AED) had better outcomes compared to patients with a greater than 1 h delay (p < 0.05). The two major etiologies for the SE were cerebrovascular disease and alcohol misuse. A good immediate outcome was found in 46% of the patients. Epileptiform activity on the EEG, a history of epilepsy or SE, presence of cardiovascular disease, and alcohol misuse were associated with a poor outcome. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study emphasize the importance of an urgent response by emergency services and proper recognition of atypical phenotypes of SE