Dodging a Bullet

The U.S. beef industry dodged a major bullet last December following the detection of the first case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, so-called mad cow disease, in Washington state.

There are many reasons why, says one expert, though she attributes much of the credit to the careful groundwork laid far in advance by U.S. beef industry leaders. Money provided though the Beef Check-off program enabled the industry to respond quickly to public concerns related to the disease, not only through the media but also through local retail outlets.

Shortly after the story broke, for example, Ed Whatley, director of consumer affairs for the Alabama Cattlemen’s Association, went into rapid response mode, faxing roughly 1,000 grocery stores and a similar number of restaurants throughout the state with information developed to allay public fears and demonstrate that beef remained a safe product.

At Auburn University, Dr. Lisa Kriese-Anderson, Alabama Cooperative Extension System animal scientist and Auburn University associate professor of animal science, says the undertaking lends support to the old military maxim that “prior planning prevents poor performance.”

“When consumers came into local grocery stores, there was material available to show that the product was still safe,” she says.

The quick response to the crisis is only one example of how the beef industry has primed itself over several years to cope with it and similar food safety issues ranging from possible detections of BSE to an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, to name only a couple.

The British and Canadian beef industries, on the other hand, weren’t so lucky. Compared with their American counterparts, the industries failed to undertake adequate advance planning and have suffered accordingly, Kriese-Anderson says.

“Britain and Canada --- Canada especially --- didn’t have their media plan worked out to anticipate the crisis, even though their beef supply is safe.”

Other factors also cushioned the blow to the U.S. industry, Kriese-Anderson says, notably the beef industry’s aggressive marketing of a new line of heat-and-serve beef products.

Growing consumer demand for low-carb fare also played a huge role, she adds. The fact that the detection occurred during the holiday season and during wartime when people were focused on other more pressing concerns also was a factor, Kriese-Anderson says.

As a result, she says, American consumers ended up “eating their way through the crisis.”

There appears to be no end in sight. Sales for red meat are projected to exceed $44 billion this year, up 18 percent in the last three years and nearly 40 percent since 1999, according to one report.

[Source: Dr. Lisa Kriese-Anderson, Alabama Cooperative Extension System and Auburn University Associate Professor of Animal Science, (334) 844-1561.]

Posted by Jim Langcuster at October 29, 2004 04:20 PM | TrackBack