This documentation contains information on the legislative mandate for the reporting of retail scanner prices for random-weight fresh meat products, a description of retail scanner data, the meat categories included in the LMIC database, the data collection and processing procedures, and the resulting data. See more information for details on: 1) how the retail scanner prices differ from retail prices reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and 2) the calculation of meat price spreads.

Legislative mandate
The Livestock Mandatory Reporting Act of 1999 (P.L. 106-78, Title IX, Section 257, Publication of Information on Retail Purchase Prices for Representative Meat Products) requires the compilation and publication of retail purchase prices for "representative food products made from beef, pork, chicken, turkey, veal, or lamb." ERS was originally given the responsibility for the publication of the retail meat purchase prices and quantity measures for these representative meat products. Updates and oversight are now coordinated by the LMIC

Scanner data
The Act states that the Secretary of Agriculture is allowed to "obtain the information from retailers or commercial information sources and use valid statistical sampling procedures if necessary." Retail supermarket scanner data obtained from commercial sources is used to fulfill the requirements of the Act.

Scanner data are collected at the point of sale by supermarkets using electronic scanners in the check-out lines. Stores may use bar codes attached to the product package or store codes typed into the register to record the product type and price.

Supermarkets are defined as retail grocery stores with dairy, produce, fresh meat, packaged food, and nonfood departments and annual sales of $2 million or more. Not included in retail scanner data are sales from butcher shops, warehouse clubs, convenience stores, fast-food establishments, and restaurants; at institutions (e.g., hospitals and schools); through mail order; or by food distributors that choose not to provide their data for third-party use.

Supermarkets that use electronic scanners may provide the information to commercial data firms (i.e., syndicated data suppliers). These firms combine point-of-sale transaction data from supermarkets. They process and categorize the data, and sell information to both supermarket chains and manufacturers for inventory, revenue control, and general marketing purposes.

To ensure confidentiality of the meat retail scanner data, a third-party cooperator (to the LMIC) obtains and processes the retail scanner data and provides the LMIC with summary statistics. Store- and chain-level data are not provided to the LMIC in raw form nor can it be constructed from the data published on the LMIC website. No data related to individual store- and/or chain-level sales are obtained or maintained by the LMIC.

At first, the meat retail scanner database will provide national coverage. While not based on a random sample, the raw data underlying the database are from supermarkets across the United States that account for approximately 20 percent of U.S. supermarket sales (i.e., all commodity volume or ACV). In the future, price reporting by region may be added to the database.

Included meat categories
In the development of the meat retail scanner database, ERS consulted with industry groups and chose to base the product groupings in the meat retail scanner database on those defined by the URMIS industry standard and BLS. In addition to the BLS categories for beef, pork, and chicken, the LMIC reports a composite price for all beef, all pork, all chicken, all turkey, all lamb, and all veal.

Currently, BLS reports about 30 meat-cut categories, excluding lamb and veal, for the entire fresh meat department (one of the five standard departments within a supermarket). Many meat cuts are aggregated in the BLS data into a combined category. For example, items listed as chuck roast, arm pot roast, shoulder pot roast, and 7-bone pot roast are combined into the chuck roast category.

The LMIC is using URMIS codes to categorize descriptions of different cuts of meat so the LMIC and BLS data are comparable. First, items in retailers' point-of-sale systems—that are represented in the meat retail scanner database—are matched (by the LMIC's third-party cooperator) to an URMIS code. Second, URMIS codes are assigned to the appropriate scanner data category. (See item groupings by scanner data category for a list of categories in the retail scanner database and examples of individual meat cuts that are in those categories. See scanner and BLS categories for the scanner data categories that correspond to the BLS meat categories. Both files are in *.xls format).

Because the LMIC data are based on URMIS codes, the system can accommodate more exacting item descriptions than the BLS data. Currently, the LMIC is publishing weighted-average prices from the retail scanner data side-by-side with matching BLS price data. After further observation and evaluation of the retail scanner data, more detailed meat-cut categories may be reported.

BLS reports a composite fixed-weight price index for each commodity, requiring ERS to construct a composite price for beef, pork, or poultry. ERS uses BLS prices for meat cuts and fixed cut-out proportions—based on the typical way a carcass is cut up—to calculate the composite retail price for beef, pork, and chicken. These are the composite retail prices that ERS publishes monthly as part of the meat price spreads. In comparison, the composite prices from the meat retail scanner data for all beef, all pork, all chicken, all turkey, all lamb, and all veal are based on actual transactions and will change as consumers vary their purchasing patterns.

Only random-weight items that are species-specific and sold in the fresh meat department of traditional supermarkets are included in the LMIC's meat retail scanner database. Multi-species items, canned meats, products containing meat (such as frozen dinners), and deli products are not included. Although most bacon and sausage are sold in fixed-weight packages, the database does contain information on random-weight bacon and sausage.

The items reported from the retail scanner data for meat are:

Beef
Ground chuck
Ground beef, 100-percent beef
Lean and extra lean ground beef
   All uncooked ground beef
Chuck roast, USDA Choice, boneless
Chuck roast, graded and ungraded but not choice or prime
Round roast, USDA Choice, boneless
Round roast, graded and ungraded but not choice or prime
   All uncooked beef roasts
Steak, T-bone USDA Choice, bone-in
Steak, rib eye USDA Choice
Steak, round, USDA Choice
Steak, round, graded and ungraded but not choice or prime
Steak, sirloin USDA Choice, boneless
Steak, sirloin, graded and ungraded but not choice or prime
   All uncooked beef steaks
Beef for stew, boneless
All uncooked other beef not veal (such as beef briskets and ribs)
   All beef

Pork
Bacon, sliced
Chops, center cut, bone in
Chops, boneless
   All pork chops
Ham, boneless not canned
   All ham (not canned or sliced)
Sausage, fresh, loose
All other pork excluding canned and sliced (such as pork roast and ribs)
   All pork

Poultry
Chicken, fresh whole
Chicken, breast, bone-in
Chicken, legs, bone-in
   All chicken
Turkey, frozen whole
   All turkey

Other meat
   All lamb
   All veal

Data collection and processing
To maintain confidentiality of the meat retail scanner data, the LMIC's third-party cooperator obtains retail scanner data at the chain level by item from a commercial data firm. Meat sold in random-weight packages requires special data processing procedures that differ from those used for other retail food items that have manufacturers' universal product codes (UPC bar codes). Random-weight foods may be labeled with UPC bar codes (meat more often than produce), but—for the same item—the code may vary among supermarket chains and among stores within a chain. As a result, for this process, item codes are standardized across stores and retailers.

Once item codes are standardized, item prices are checked for feature activity. Featuring refers to the price discounts offered to consumers through retailers' weekly feature advertisements. These discounts likely have an effect on the quantity of meat sold. In preparation of the data (by the LMIC's third-party cooperator), information on featuring activity is matched and compared to the price provided in the retail scanner data. Where differences in the recorded price and the feature price are observed, the feature price is used to represent the price of the product to the consumer. For example, the regular price of Choice T-bone steak in supermarket X is $7.50 per pound. In the second week of May, the advertised price is $6.50 per pound. Depending upon the supermarket's data management system, this feature price may or may not be recorded as the purchase price. (Sometimes item discounts are recorded at the bottom of a sales receipt and are subtracted from the total sale.) In this example, the advertised feature price for supermarket X's Choice T-bone steak would replace the recorded price for that item in the database. Processes have been created and iterations performed to ensure that the feature price adjustment for individual items are valid and performed in an appropriate and consistent manner.

After adjusting for feature discounts, the data include dollar sales, price per pound, and volume sold for each item. Items are classified into appropriate cut and aggregate categories based on the item description and background information. Items other than those in a BLS category are assigned to a broader category. For example, ungraded steak is assigned to the category "all uncooked beef steaks" and a beef cut not in another category (such as a beef brisket) is assigned to "all uncooked other beef not veal." All items per specie are combined for the species totals (all beef, all pork, etc).

Three variables are reported monthly for each cut and aggregate category: a weighted-average price, an index of volume sold, and the percent of volume sold under featuring (or feature discounts). The weighted-average price for each category is computed by dividing total dollar sales for the month by the volume sold (in pounds). The volume index is calculated by dividing the volume sold per month by the monthly average of volume sold in 2001. The number is converted to an index with the monthly average for 2001 equaling 100. The percent of volume sold under feature is the volume sold under feature (in pounds) divided by the total volume sold for the month (in pounds) multiplied by 100.

These summary data are then delivered to the LMIC every month by our third-party cooperator, reviewed by the LMIC staff for consistency and quality, and posted to the LMIC website on, or near, the 20th of the month. The data have a 2-month reporting lag; for example, prices for May are reported in July.

Revisions are incorporated into the database monthly and will be reflected in the latest monthly release. Revisions are based on additional data or refined methodology.

Data results
Weighted-average prices, the volume index, and the percent sold under feature are reported monthly for the categories listed above. Users can access the data in two ways: summary tables and a searchable database.

Summary tables for the meat retail scanner data allow users quick access to average retail prices (weighted by quantity purchased) for beef, pork, poultry, lamb, and veal.

Table 1 contains comparisons of average retail prices for selected meat cuts from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and from the supermarket scanner data for the most recent month.

Table 2 contains average monthly retail prices for beef, pork, poultry, lamb, and veal based on the supermarket scanner data for the most recent 6 months.

Table 3 contains average monthly retail prices, a volume index (2001 monthly average=100), and percent of volume sold under feature for beef, pork, poultry, lamb, and veal based on the supermarket scanner data for the most recent 2 months and the most recent month a year ago.

The searchable database allows users to select time periods (beginning in January 2001) and individual categories. Results can be saved as *.csv or *.html files.

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