When Harvard University published its “Healthy Eating Plate” last September, there was something missing: red meat. Instead of including red meat on their dietary guide, Harvard nutritionists recommended that consumers “choose fish, poultry, beans and nuts.” The exclusion of red meat from the Harvard guide contrasts with USDA’s MyPlate, which counts lean cuts of beef, ham and other red meats as good protein sources for a healthy diet.
“For beef, the number-one driver is still product quality. When everybody asks consumers what drives purchases, it’s the one that comes out on top.”
And, for most consumers, taste is what drives the determination of a quality product, says Daryl Tatum, Colorado State University meats scientist. So how are we doing? Is the beef industry delivering the product that consumers expect?...More
Seventeen Kansas State University scientists will join researchers from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and other universities and government agencies in a coordinated, multi-pronged approach to improve the safety of beef....More
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced today that it has awarded a research grant to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) to help reduce the occurrence and public health risks from Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) along the entire beef production pathway. Dr. Chavonda Jacobs-Young, acting director of USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), is scheduled to award the $25 million grant to the UNL-lead research team today at the university in Lincoln....More
Millions of “Oprah” show viewers watched Lisa Ling’s reaction as she walked through a Fort Morgan, CO, packing plant last winter. The journalist was there on assignment to tell the story of how meat is harvested in America, and members of the cattle industry and Cargill executives were on their seat edges to see how the story would unfold...More
“We have to understand that there are times when science may not help us.”
That is a startling revelation for the cattle industry, especially coming as it did from Scott Hurd, who has devoted his life to science. After all, virtually every advancement and improvement the cattle industry enjoys is the result of science. But Hurd, now at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Iowa State University and previously deputy undersecretary for food safety at USDA, says that value-based decisions and politics often trump science in the court of public opinion....More
After reading yet another article questioning whether Wal-Mart is losing its way by introducing organic products, Choice beef and higher-end products, I have to wonder about our arrogance. Wal-Mart is the 800-lb. gorilla – both loved and hated for its size....More
It was a fight the beef-processing industry was always going to lose. Ever since USDA declared E. coli O157:H7 an adulterant in non-intact raw beef in 1994, ground beef has been the lightning rod for federal officials, politicians and consumer groups in the ongoing debate about the safety of America’s food supply....More
A recent article in the Kansas City Star that highlighted the deaths of animals in confinement operations during the recent record heat wave caused quite a bit of controversy. The article was pretty slanted against modern agricultural production standards (it continually referred to "factory farms), and producers sent in quite a few letters addressing some of the misperceptions propagated in the article....More
