Meat consumption has increased significantly in the last 50 years. This trend raises various health and environmental issues, as well as moral concerns regarding farm animal welfare. In this paper, we discuss the regulation of meat consumption in developed countries. Specifically, we discuss possible justifications for this regulation in terms of environmental, health and animal welfare considerations, as well as the effect of fiscal, informational and behavioral regulatory instruments. Finally, we present a list of challenges that policy makers and food scholars may need to confront in the future.

After fossil fuels, agricultural production and fisheries are industries with the largest impact on the environment in terms of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, especially in the production of ruminant meats such as beef, veal or lamb. In order to reduce this environmental impact, consumers can change their food consumption habits to utilize less polluting products such as white meats or vegetable food products. We analyze whether or not a CO 2 equivalent (CO 2-eq) tax policy can change consumer habits with respect to meat and marine purchases, and using different indicators, we examine the effect of such a tax policy on the environment. We also infer the implications of such a tax on nutritional indicators as well as on consumer welfare. First, to evaluate the impact of a variation in the price of meat and marine products on consumption, we estimate a random coefficients logit demand model using purchase data from the French household panel Kantar Worldpanel. We define 28 meat and marine products, and divide them into eight meat and marine product categories. This model allows us to estimate flexible own-and cross-price elasticities of meat and marine products' demand. Results on the consumer purchase behavior model suggest that the demands for these products are fairly inelastic, and substitutions occur both within and between categories for all products. Moreover, using two levels of a CO 2-eq tax (e56 and e200 per tonne of CO 2-eq per kilogram of product) applied to either all meat and marine products, only ruminant meats, or only beef, we show that a tax of e56 leads to a very small change in GHG emissions, even if all meat and marine products are taxed. The most efficient scenario would be to tax only the beef category at a high level since it would allow a 70% reduction in the total variation of GHG emissions, and would be responsible for only 20% of the consumer welfare damages generated when all products are taxed.

The paper determines how the value‐added created by an organic label is shared in a vertical chain among manufacturers and retailers. Using purchase data on the French fluid milk sector, we develop a structural econometric model of demand and supply that takes into account the bargaining power between manufacturers and retailers. Our results suggest that the organic label segment is more profitable, as it permits the existence of higher margins. Moreover, an organic label allows manufacturers to achieve more bargaining power relative to retailers, and hence to obtain a higher share of total margins. The econometric model is then used to assess the impact of an environmental policy in favor of the organic segment based on a mechanism of price support. Our results suggest that while a subsidy policy towards organic products benefits both manufacturers and retailers, a tax policy toward conventional products benefits manufacturers of national brands at the expense of retailers and manufacturers that provide the private labels. The benefits of such policies on the environment is relatively small. All such policies tend to increase the impact on global warming and land use, but reduce the impact on eutrophication, acidification, and energy use.

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EU regulation on quality food products (PDO labeling) is expected to sustain competitiveness within the agricultural sector. This paper examines the impact of this policy on the survival of cheese firms over the period 1990-2006 in France. We show that such a policy (Appellation d'Origine Controlée) reduces exiting risk for smaller firms. However, smaller firms still have a lower survival rate compared to larger ones that cannot be compensated by the quality label effect. * We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Department of Agricultural Economics from INRA. We thank Jad Chaaban and participants of the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association 2010 AAEA, CAES, & WAEA Joint annual meeting, Denver, for their comments as well as Elise Maigné for her impressive and efficient work on the raw data set. We gratefully acknowledge the helpful comments by two referees and the coordinating editor. The usual disclaimer applies.