Canadians chewed through more than a million tonnes of beef last year.
Statistics Canada reported per capita beef consumption rose 2.2 percent from 2005 and total beef disappearance in 2006 rose by more than 30,000 tonnes to total 1,035,315 tonnes.
“This is the highest in 30 years,” said Glenn Brand, head of the Beef Information Centre.
More than 80 percent of the beef consumed was of Canadian origin.
The greatest increase was for beef derived from animals older than 30 months. Because of BSE restrictions, most of Canada’s trading partners do not accept mature beef so it must be eaten at home. It is known as commercial beef and can be found as ground meat, some whole muscle cuts or processed items like sausages and deli meats.
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Consumption of mature beef rose to 189,000 tonnes in 2006 from 159,000 tonnes in 2005. The 2006 cow slaughter was 20 percent higher at 788,000 head. The cow kill was up partly because of increased exports of steers and heifers to the United States, forcing Canadian packers to process more older animals to try to maintain volume.
Canfax reports fed cattle exports in 2006 topped 700,000 head and 320,000 feeder calves left Canada for the U.S.
Canada exported 679,000 tonnes of beef with more than 80 percent going to the U.S.
Because cow meat exports were restricted, the Beef Information Centre, working with researchers and processors, developed a campaign to encourage new uses for the mature beef.
“There are some very good products that can be produced from D1 and D4 cattle,” Brand said.
Part of the promotion was based on U.S. research that assessed 11 muscle cuts for palatability and suggested how to process and use it.
“We believe there was a large portion of the cow carcass that was dramatically underutilized and sold as ground beef,” he said.
Research has found muscles that are tender and juicy could be separated, rather than sending the entire cow carcass for grinding.
“Muscle profiling is creating some new opportunities,” said Agriculture Canada meat scientist Jennifer Aalhus.
The tenderloin from a cow is as good as from a youthful animal. This is the area from where steaks and chops are cut.
Also, because most cows are fed forages, their muscles tend to have higher levels of healthy fatty acid, which benefits human health.
However, D grade cows have fewer muscles fitting into the tenderness category when compared to cattle younger than 30 months.
“The older the animal as a whole, the tougher it will get. If tenderness is a problem, we actually know how to fix that over some other characteristics,” Aalhus said.
