Cattle Producers Working to Ensure Beef Quality, Safety

AUBURN, Jan. 9—Alabama cattle producers are acutely aware that they are not only raising calves but that they are also producing meat for someone’s dinner table.

That is why producers will change management practices in the wake of the confirmation of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in a Washington state dairy cow, said Dr. Lisa Kriese-Anderson, an animal scientist with the Alabama Cooperative Extension System.

“Alabama producers have always responded to consumers’ concerns and desires,” said Kriese-Anderson. “I am confident that they will accept new regulations from the U.S. Department of Agriculture as well as any future regulatory or management changes to help ensure the nation’s food supply remain safe.”

BSE has never been diagnosed in any cattle less than 30 months of age.

Kriese-Anderson said the majority of the 35 million cattle entering the U.S. food chain are between 18 and 24 months old.

“That’s one reason the U.S. Department of Agriculture has not mandated testing of every animal slaughtered,” said Kriese-Anderson. “It takes years for infective prion (a self-replicating protein) numbers to accumulate and be detected in laboratory analyses.”

Prions are the causative agent for BSE.

Prior to the Washington State BSE confirmation, only cattle more than 30 months of age and cattle from suspect populations were tested for the disease. Suspect populations included downer or disabled cattle, cattle showing neurological problems, and cattle exhibiting rapid weight loss without diarrhea.

Last year, the USDA tested 20,000 cattle. This year, they will test 36,000.

“Testing at the 20,000 head level would find the 1 in 1,000,000 cow that would have the disease with a 95 percent confidence interval,” said Kriese-Anderson. “So by increasing testing numbers from the suspect population to 36,000, we will be, in essence, increasing the confidence interval of finding that 1 in 1,000,000 cow that had the disease.”

The brain, spinal column and other nervous system tissue of infected cattle have been shown to contain the BSE prions.

Kriese-Anderson said they are not found in muscle tissues, such as steaks, roasts and the like, nor are they found in milk or blood. The USDA has announced plans to ban central nervous system material and portions of the intestines from all harvested cattle entering the food supply to further reduce the chance of introducing the causative agent into the nation’s food supply.

The USDA has taken another corrective step by banning downer or disabled cattle.

“The majority of these animals become downers because of injuries during transport while others may be sick,” said Kriese-Anderson. “But the best way to ensure the food supply remains safe is the banning of downer cattle from the human food supply.”

With the discovery of BSE in a Washington state dairy cow, the USDA has put implementation of a national livestock identification program on a fast track. The professed intent of the industry proposal already under discussion is to develop a national identification system to trace any animal within 48 hours of a disease outbreak.

Kriese-Anderson says a national identification system would benefit consumers and producers in several ways.

“A standardized identification system would allow the USDA or others to trace an animal back to the farm of origin,” said Kriese-Anderson. “That would greatly assist in managing all types of disease outbreaks, not just tracking an animal that tested positive for BSE.”

She gave foot and mouth disease as an example of a disease that could be traced.

“FMD is a deadly, rapidly spreading disease. It devastated British herds several years ago. We have not had FMD in the U.S. since 1929,” said Kriese-Anderson. “But if it were to be diagnosed in an animal in the U.S., a standardized identification system would allow rapid tracing of the animal’s origins. This would allow almost immediate quarantining of the herd and any other locations the animal might have passed through. This would help limit the spread of the disease.”

Some Alabama producers already have an excellent identification system for their cattle. Others are adding an electronic identification component to their herd management.

With USDA funding, the Alabama Beef Connection was started in 2003 to trace Alabama calves through the marketing chain. ABC is a cooperative effort of Extension, the Alabama Beef Cattle Improvement Association, the Alabama Farmers Federation, the Alabama Cattleman’s Association, the Alabama Livestock Marketing Association and the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries.

ABC is designed to provide an information network among producers, feedlots and packers about beef quality. But it also allows the USDA, a feedlot or packer to trace an animal back to its farm of origin. An effective trace back system will only solidify what most Americans already believe – their food supply is safe.

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