ESTEVAN, Sask. – Environmental groups and consumer advocates are forcing farmers to change the way they do business, producers were told last week at the Saskatchewan Stock Growers Association annual meeting.
These activists are “very powerful and very busy,” said Dee Griffin of the Great Plains Veterinary Educational Centre at the University of Nebraska.
Griffin said activists are always telling people there are things to be afraid of, such as synthetic hormones. Because of this, consumers need assurance the food they are buying is safe.
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He noted an eight-year campaign in the United States which ended with warning labels being placed on meat packages, cautioning consumers that the meat may contain harmful bacteria.
“Anytime a consumer loses confidence, it hurts us all,” he said.
Colin Boyd, professor of business strategy at the University of Saskatchewan, said some activists are overzealous and attack companies for no reason.
This occured with Alar, a pesticide used in orchards. A late 1980s boycott of apples treated with Alar resulted from what Boyd called “pure media hysteria.” A U.S. investigation later found no proof Alar was harmful to humans.
Boyd said cattle producers fighting similar action against beef would be best to embrace rather than fight or dismiss their opponents.
Both Boyd and Griffin said most people have no connection to agriculture or food production and are willing to believe what activists say.
Give consumers quality
To combat this, cattle producers can make sure the product being shipped to grocery stores is in the best possible condition, Griffin said. He referred to a 1991 survey of U.S. meat retailers which showed tissue damage due to injections was out of control.
The survey found 28 percent of top butts cut in Iowa had injection site lesions. In Nebraska, the total was 27.5 percent, in Colorado 21 percent, and in Texas 20.5 percent. The survey average was 22 percent.
Of these, 50 percent were wet, or abscessed, Griffin said.
Two years later, changing injection practices had reduced the lesions to 14 percent, with none wet. But today the figures are on the rise again.
“Don’t stick the needles in the meat,” Griffin emphasized. Injections should be given under the skin, if possible, and in the neck area in front of the shoulder blade.
He also told producers to make sure their veterinarians are doing this and to supervise any employees who are giving shots.
He cautioned against needless injections of antihistamines and vitamins, saying vitamins should be put in feed.
