Heightened sensitivity to animal welfare not only leads to more humane practices and improved food safety, but also makes good economic sense, delegates heard at a Farm Animal Council of Saskatchewan conference in Saskatoon.
Rebecca Cooper, who trains meat handlers at Excel in Kansas, said this extra attention to animal care and handling is especially needed the day before slaughter.
“The last day is critical,” she said. “The day prior to slaughter is as important as any decision made in its life beforehand.”
Bruising is common in 45 percent of slaughtered animals and accounts for average losses of $4.03 per animal, according to the National Beef Quality Audit in the United States.
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It is caused by incidents such as animals hitting protrusions in alleyways during loading or slipping on slick surfaces and ramps.
Consumers see the darker meat as old and dried out. They won’t pay as much for it, if they buy it at all, Cooper said.
Producers and truckers need to understand stress and its effect on animals and food safety, she said, citing her work in developing training videos for truckers on animal care and handling.
She said weather changes, temperature extremes, long journeys, rough handling and overcrowding can produce meat with a shorter shelf life.
The pampered show animal also experiences stress that can affect meat quality, she added.
“Every time we show them, we stress them.”
Mixing together different groups of animals can also lead to increased exposure to disease, she said.
“When in close proximity, they share things with others and they may have E. coli on their hide,” Cooper said.
She estimated at least one percent of E. coli still gets past meat inspectors and onto store shelves. This is expected to decline in the coming decade through improved practices.
“That one percent still makes people sick and that’s not what we want,” Cooper said.
Food security and safety remain consumers’ top priorities.
While animal welfare is also in the spotlight, “humane” labelled meat is not on the horizon in the U.S.
She said Excel’s retail customers want to be able to tell consumers about changes that have been made in livestock production and meat processing.
Cooper said this increased attention has led to improvements in meat packing plants, particularly small- and medium-sized ones.
Distractions have been reduced and plants now avoid moving animals from light to the dark, which they fear. Excel has consulted with animal behaviour experts and conducts audits at its plants several times a week.
“If we’re going to fail, we want to fail ourselves so we can fix it,” said Cooper, who noted a failed audit at Excel means a complete plant shutdown.
Cooper said more needs to be done to highlight what companies and producers are doing right.
“What we’ve done with animal welfare has not been hidden, but not spotlighted.”
Jim Reeves, president of the U.S. Beef Brands Council, said it starts with educating the public on how food animals are raised.
“If we’re going to have a strong industry in future, people who consume it have to understand us and the care we put into producing what’s on the table,” he said.
“We sometimes shoot ourselves in the foot in the industry and reload to shoot us again.”
He said response has been sluggish to a trend toward improved animal welfare that has been building over the last 10 years.
Reeves said producers need to build confidence and offer uniform quality assurance programs, fund more research, enhance enforcement programs and educate themselves and the public.
A new generation of consumers is growing up in the city with little connection to the farm and food production, which has given rise to well organized and funded radical movements.
He said groups such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals have issued a wake-up call for the industry and forced the issue of improving animal husbandry on producers.
In the U.S., the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association has a voluntary program to develop animal welfare management guidelines.
“If we don’t do it, the government will impose that on us,” Reeves said.
In addition to teaching good animal husbandry, the program also highlights damage done to meat quality by everyday practices such as injections and branding.
“We’ve got to stop it.”
He said other “hot button” issues include castration and dehorning.
“All animal food producers will be in the spotlight and you will need to defend what you’re doing.”
Reeves said it’s important for producers, the livestock industry and groups such as FACS to work together with common goals and deliver a consistent message.
