Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays talks with NCBA Senior Director for Producer Education Michaela Clowser about foreign objects found in beef, namely, buckshot and birdshot.
Birdshot or shotgun shell pellets have been found and reported in the beef supply since the first National Beef Quality Audit in the early nineties. Still, the presence of this foreign material in the food we produce is not subsiding. It was a major point of discussion in the industry strategy meeting that came from the most recent audit.
“We saw foreign object contamination both on the fed and the market cow and bull side, but we’re focusing more on birdshot and buckshot on the market cow and bull side,” Clowser said.
She said that one hundred percent of the audited processing plants reported finding birdshot and buckshot in beef.
“We utilize the National Beef Quality Audit as science-based research to serve as a feedback loop into the BQA program,” Clowser explained. “We take the information and determine how we can help the producer implement practical strategies on their operations to become more profitable and efficient. If they are losing money and we are losing product and cows due to foreign object contamination, that is an issue we will keep addressing.”
Clowser and her team have partnered with various supply chain processors and packers to learn more about the losses to the industry. The plants are using technology such as magnets, metal detectors, and x-ray machines to detect foreign objects in the beef.
“We are at record highs of having carcasses coming through the plants with bruising,” Clowser said. “We know that cattle are getting larger, and it’s hard to accommodate that with existing facilities and transportation. We are seeing a lot of bruising down the topline of fed cattle, but also on the topline and sides of market cows and bulls. That is where you take a step back and assess your handling facilities and how your cattle are transported to implement those BQA Principles to eliminate as much bruising as possible because that is another significant loss to the industry.”
NCBA and the BQA know that the increased bruising is correlated with increased carcass weights, through researchers and industry experts. To address that issue they must rely on supply chain partners to help spread that message and determine what they are asking the producer for, be it higher pounds or cutability and red meat products.
“It is going to be an interesting and continuing conversation,” Clowser admitted. “We are always keeping the producer in mind and how we can benefit them and help them become more efficient.”
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR at the top of the story for today’s show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
