CONTACT: Melissa Slagle 303-867-6306
mslagle@beefboard.org
SAFETY THE FOCUS OF
BEEF INDUSTRY SUMMIT
Summit Concludes with Updated Best Practices and Industry-wide
Pledge on Animal Welfare
DALLAS, TEXAS (March 10, 2008)
– More than 160 leaders, including cattle producers, feeders,
processors as well as retailers and foodservice operators,
convened at the fifth annual Beef Industry Safety Summit March
5-7 in Dallas, Texas, to explore solutions to safety
challenges as well as review and update best practices based on
the latest science.
University scientists presented
research results on pre-harvest and processing interventions as
well as pathogen data which will be used to enhance beef safety
systems. Experts on emerging issues including multi
drug-resistant pathogens and non-O157 E. coli, shared
information that will allow the industry to proactively address
these challenges. Attendees also had an opportunity to hear from
a live consumer panel highlighting perceptions and beliefs about
food safety.
The Summit is funded in part by the
Beef Checkoff and hosted by the Beef Industry Food Safety
Council (BIFSCo), which is a coalition of beef producers,
university and government scientists, trade association
representatives and industry leaders. BIFSCo has helped
implement and provide education on technological innovations
that continue to advance the safety of beef.
“The focus of these meetings has
always been to review current science and find ways to enhance
beef safety from farm to fork,” says James O. Reagan,
Ph.D., BIFSCo chairman and National Cattlemen’s Beef Association
vice president of research and knowledge management. “This
summit is just one example of how the industry comes together to
provide safe, wholesome and high-quality beef to families around
the world.”
In addition to addressing safety
interventions and research, beef industry leaders pledged their
ongoing dedication to animal welfare, recognizing
long-standing efforts such as the Beef Quality Assurance
program, which began in 1986 and is funded in part by the Beef
Checkoff.
Attendees at the Safety Summit
reaffirmed their commitment to animal welfare by signing a
pledge that states: “As leaders in the beef industry
representing each link in the beef production chain, we are
committed to animal welfare. We reaffirm our dedication to
quality animal care, using and improving sound handling and
management practices that have been in place for years. We will
continue to work in cooperation with our partners to make sure
every animal is treated humanely so that consumers can continue
to have confidence in the people who produce beef.”
Industry leaders leave the Summit
charged with a renewed commitment to working together to advance
beef safety and animal welfare standards. “As a beef
producer, I’m proud to say that the meeting was successful in
bringing people from all parts of the beef chain together to
work toward the goal of providing safe beef for consumers,” says
Mark Riechers, farmer/feeder from Darlington, Wisc., Cattlemen’s
Beef Board member and vice chair of the Beef Safety Committee. “The
Safety Summit is an example of the many checkoff-funded
activities aimed at helping us accomplish this goal.
Producers and all forms of processors can be proud of the
quality of the research and other information presented at this
meeting. We are all in the business of producing safe beef and
all benefit from everyone playing their part in the process.”
For more information about the beef checkoff, visit
www.beefboard.org.
The Beef Checkoff
Program was established as part of the 1985 Farm Bill. The
checkoff assesses $1 per head on the sale of live domestic and
imported cattle, in addition to a comparable assessment on
imported beef and beef products. States retain up to 50 cents on
the dollar and forward the other 50 cents per head to the
Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board, which administers
the national checkoff program, subject to USDA approval.
# # #