Meat + Poultry - May 2004 - 56

PRE- HARVEST FOOD SAFET Y

FSI INSIGHTS

"Kinder, Gentler Food"
■ When Iowa Quality Beef Cooperative bought an old cattle-slaughtering
plant in Tama, Iowa, the company spent $8 million to make the cattlehandling area more humane, the Des Moines Register reported.
No one demanded these changes from the cattlemen, but they assumed that sooner or later, someone would. And according to Walt Solonynka, plant manager, the money was well-spent.
"It's good for the cattle
and good for the end product,"
he said in the article, "Kinder,
Gentler Food."
These actions mirror a
trend of increased pressure on
livestock producers and slaughterhouses to change their animalhandling practices.
"There's been a fundamental shift from producers putting out the food
and saying to the consumer, 'Take it or leave it,'" Edmond Pajor, a leading
animal-welfare researcher at Purdue University, said in the article. "Now
consumers are saying, 'I want my food cheap, safe and produced in a certain
way.' Consumers have more power, more so than they ever used to."
To further demonstrate this trend, Whole Foods Market, a national grocery chain, announced plans to adopt humane animal-treatment standards,
with guidelines to be in place before the end of this year.

The rise and fall of protein consumption
■ Americans' per capita consumption of pork, beef, veal and lamb has
decreased over the past 33 years, while per capita consumption of poultry
and seafood has risen. This reflects Americans' perception that poultry and
seafood are healthier than other proteins.
84.6

83.4

80
PER CAPITA CONSUMPTION (POUNDS)

percent compared with 40.3 percent
in the control group. Prevalence in
fecal samples dropped from 45.8 percent in the control group to 13.3 percent in the treated pens.
■ Probios FS (Chr. Hansen Inc.) In
two challenge studies, researchers
report that the product reduced the
environmental load of E. coli in commercial feedyards by 92 and 97 percent. In a commercial feedyard study,
feeding the product for 14 days prior
to slaughter reduced individualanimal shedding of the pathogen by
56 percent and reduced the number
of pens shedding the pathogen by
62 percent.
■ Tasco 14 (Acadian Agritech) This
seaweed extract is being extensively
tested. In completed trials, supplementation with Tasco 14 reduced
E. coli levels when fed for 14 days
prior to slaughter but had some adverse effects on animal performance.
Research continues on these
and other interventions. USDA scientists, for example, are evaluating the
use of sodium chlorate as a feed or
water additive and seeing positive
results in the reduction of E. coli. Trials also are beginning on a new version of the vaccine used in the CSU
study. Industry organizations such as
the NCBA are working with the FDA
to expedite the approval process for
interventions such as sodium chlorate and neomycin sulfate.
Feedyards can use the currently
approved products, as can dairies
during a finishing or "clean-up" period for culled dairy animals. Eventually, Belk foresees a system extending
back to cow-calf and dairy operations involving early vaccinations to
reduce prevalence overall, with later
interventions providing further reductions prior to slaughter.

66.9

60
55.8
51.6

50
40
36.6

30
20

17.4
11.9

14.4

8.1
2.5

By John Maday
Drovers magazine

1970

2004

CHICKEN
+127.9%

1970

2004

1970

2004

1970

TURKEY FISH/SEAFOOD PORK
+114.8%
+21%
-7.5%

2004

1970

2004

BEEF
-20.9%

1970

0.6
2004

FOOD SYSTEMS

ınsıder

MAY 2004

1.1

1970

2004

VEAL LAMB/MUTTON
-76%
-62.1%

Source: USDA Economic Research Service and Ron Plain, University of Missouri

12 FSI

2.9

Meat + Poultry - May 2004

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