Enhancing the Competitiveness and Value of U.S. Beef

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Global demand for U.S. red meat products has been challenged by evolving issues associated with food safety, a need for improved eating satisfaction in relation to retail price, and a need for clear market signals originating at the consumption level of both U.S. and export markets. This project will result in science-based solutions to the issues that are faced and will help to sustain animal agriculture in the U.S., while also serving to provide meat products that are both safer and of higher quality to consumers.

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APPROACH: Food Safety: Data will be collected by experiment station workers according to standardized published procedures. Colorado will conduct research aimed at developing pathogen reduction technologies for use by industry; with particular emphasis to be placed on reducing incidence of E. coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp., Campylobacter, Yersinia spp., and other pathogens of public health concern. There will be close collaboration among stations, and with USDA, to follow established or develop protocols when needed. When appropriate, data collection and sampling will occur in commercial plants during normal operations. Close collaboration with industry to collect meaningful data will help to insure application and improve food safety of red meats. Quality and Consistency: The need for improved product quality and market signals, and therefore consumer demand for red meats, is clear. This station will focus research efforts on the development of improved characterization and sortation technology for use in valuation of red meat carcasses, and development of modern technologies and management practices allowing improvement of meat eating quality and value. Meat eating quality will be determined according to AMS (1995) and other evolving standardized procedures, and carcass composition will be determined via commonly accepted dissection techniques. Some product will be involved in vitamin E studies and other treatments to improve supermarket caselife and export value. Technologies for carcass sorting and valuation will include those utilizing video image analysis and reflectance measurement techniques. Niche or specialized markets will be studied through actual product development or cooperative arrangements with commercial entities. International Trade: Work to improve international trade of U.S. red meat products will complement research in other areas. Research will emphasize demand for products, and export competitiveness, in Asia, Canada, Mexico, the European Union, and other developing export markets. Additional emphasis will be given to the effects of technical barriers such as sanitary and food safety regulations on meat trade. Experimental consumer auctions will be used to further evaluate the impact of tenderness, quality grade and production methods on consumers' perceptions and willingness-to-pay for beef. Data from these experiments will be analyzed through various economic regressions to determine the relative impact of demographics and beef quality on consumers' preferences and willingness-to-pay for beef.
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PROGRESS: 2002/10 TO 2007/09<BR>
Colorado State University scientists conducted research addressing current red meat (a) safety, (b) quality, and (c) marketing issues in 2007. Efforts to restore beef export trade continued following the 2003 detection of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in the U.S. Although several key export markets were re-opened to shipments of U.S. beef (e.g., Japan, Korea, etc.) in 2006, export volume remained low due to overly-restrictive trade terms concerning definitions for prohibited tissues and concerns regarding U.S. production practices as they relate to cross-contamination with Specified Risk Materials; research was conducted and reported to assist U.S. negotiators and domestic policy-makers as they address barriers to trade in beef. Prevalence of BSE in U.S. cattle has remained at two positive cows. Additionally, our group continued efforts to ascertain the best mechanisms by which meat processors may better control prevalence of Listeria monocytogenes on ready-to-eat meats and E. coli O157:H7 on non-intact beef products; such technologies are rapidly being implemented by industry. We also continued efforts to better characterize cattle that do, versus cattle that do not, persistently shed E. coli O157:H7 using molecular and cell-culture techniques to better understand attachment efficacy among molecular subtypes of essentially equal virulence patterns. Red meat quality issues were addressed by continuing efforts to research lamb carcass instrument grading technology. In addition, research was completed on behalf of the beef checkoff to capture greater value from "non-conforming" beef carcasses; specifically those carcasses classified as dark cutters or as having excessively large or small ribeyes.
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IMPACT: 2002/10 TO 2007/09<BR>
Our research efforts will have resulted in adoption and implementation of beef carcass instrument grading by USDA and industry by the end 2008, improved marketing opportunities for non-conforming beef carcasses, greater trade access for U.S. beef, reduced distortion in policies associated with control of BSE, and safer meat products.