2001 News Archive
Beef Checkoff Makes Gains in Food Safety -- October 1, 2001
DENVER, Colo. (September 28, 2001) -- When consumers sit down to a meal, they don`t want to be thinking about the wholesomeness of the food they`re eating. They expect safe foods -- every time.
Since cattle producers are consumers, too, they recognize the need for safe beef. That`s why food safety has been a key priority in programs funded by the $1-per-head beef checkoff. As the checkoff celebrates 15 years of efforts to build consumer demand, producers who direct and support it are reviewing significant improvements made in beef safety over that time -- improvements made possible by checkoff funds.
"We`ve spent more than $12 million in checkoff dollars in the past five years alone on food safety research," according to Andy Tucker, Jr., a beef producer from Rockledge, Fla., and co-vice chairman of the beef industry`s Research & Technical Services Group. "It`s critical that we discover the best ways to maximize beef safety for our ultimate customers -- the consumer."
Tucker, who is also secretary/treasurer of the Cattlemen`s Beef Board, which administers the beef checkoff, says it`s also important that consumers see the strides made by the industry. And they have. Thanks in part to public relations efforts by government and the industry consumer confidence in beef has remained high, despite potential concerns about beef-related illnesses and livestock-related diseases.
It Starts with Research
At the heart of the food safety effort, though, has been research that assures that beef is virtually free of harmful pathogens and other elements. Checkoff-funded food safety efforts have been directed at those segments of the beef industry where the greatest improvements can be realized. In fact, three checkoff-funded research efforts at the harvest level have resulted in a 99.75 percent reduction in total microbial plate counts, and a 99.55 percent reduction in E. coli counts on carcasses.
While funding for food safety efforts has been part of the checkoff since it was started in 1986, much of the progress resulting from research conducted has taken place in the past 10 years. In 1991 a 4-year organic acid rinse project was begun that determined that natural food acids could help in removing pathogens from beef carcasses.
Working closely with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the beef industry helped develop and test rinses that might be effective.
Since then, other efforts have increased the industry`s success. In 1995 a steam vacuuming process for carcasses was perfected, giving packers another tool for removing harmful pathogens. Packers spent millions of dollars installing this steam vacuuming system, which was researched with checkoff dollars. Today more than 90 percent of U.S. fed cattle are treated with this process.
Mapping the Microbe`s Path
Throughout the end of the 1990s, the beef industry worked in several areas to assure that any possible entry points for microbes in the beef system were identified and blocked. These "microbial mapping" research projects help develop extensive hurdles pathogens must jump to get through the entire system.
Because there are fewer harvest facilities than there are beef producers, and because funds are limited, it`s effective and efficient to address safety at the post-harvest stage of the industry, according to Tucker. That`s why much of the initial funding for food safety efforts in the checkoff were targeted to packers and processors, who have spent more than $75 million to have those systems installed.
Today, however, the checkoff is adding pre-harvest efforts to its food safety arsenal. Research is currently being funded on cattle/hide cleaning procedures and food safety on the farm. In addition, the checkoff-funded Beef Quality Assurance program supports cattle producer efforts to find ways to not only maximize final eating quality, but also extend an animal`s value and wholesomeness.
It`s About Consumer Confidence
Tucker emphasized, though, that a safe product is of little value if the product`s safety is not recognized by consumers. He pointed to the Alar apple scare in 1989 as an example of how even unfounded news about food safety can have a profound effect on the success of an industry.
"In that instance apple producers lost millions of dollars because of unsubstantiated statements about their products," according to Tucker. "That same kind of thing could happen to the cattle industry -- if there was no defense to protect us."
Thanks in part to checkoff-funded programs, consumers do know about the safety of beef. Extensive publicity about bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) during the first half of 2001 could have been expected to cause extensive concern about U.S. beef. In fact, heavy media coverage drove awareness of BSE to 86 percent in April of 1996, and more recent coverage drove awareness of FMD to 81 percent.
But issues management and public relations by both the industry and the USDA helped dispel rumors and keep consumer confidence high. In April 2001, at the height of the publicity on FMD and BSE, consumer confidence in beef stood at 85 percent, compared to 82 percent in December of 2000. In February 2001 consumer confidence was 87 percent.
"By keeping in front of these issues, doing the necessary research and communicating properly with our consumers, we help protect the market for cattle," said Tucker. "The foundation of beef demand can be found in that protection. If consumers don`t have confidence in the safety of beef, all else is insignificant."
Food safety research, public relations and issues management programs are funded by beef producers through their checkoff and are produced for the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and state beef councils by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.
The Cattlemen`s Beef Board`s 110-member board is appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture to oversee the collection of the $1-per-head checkoff, certify state beef councils, implement the provisions of the federal order establishing the checkoff and evaluate the effectiveness of checkoff programs.
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Producer-directed and consumer-focused, the National Cattlemen`s Beef Association is the trade association of America’s cattle farmers and ranchers, and the marketing organization for the largest segment of the nation’s food and fiber industry.