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“Beef Quality
Assurance History”
In the early 1960s, Pillsbury, NASA and the U.S. Army Natick Laboratories
cooperatively developed a revolutionary quality control program. Its objectives
were to ensure food safety on NASA missions and to reduce the chance of product
defects entering the food chain.
Their program, the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) system, gained
U.S. Department of Agriculture acceptance and is presently the dominant outline
for safety assurance programs in processed and fresh foods. HACCP plans are
simply prevention plans that identify and control potential foods hazards and
monitor the production process.
Because of concerns with additional government regulation, cattle producers
began investigating ways to ensure that their production practices were safe and
would pass the scrutiny of the consumer. In 1982, USDA’s Food Safety Inspection
Service (FSIS) began working with the U.S. beef industry to develop the
Pre-harvest Beef Safety Production Program.
Between 1982 and 1985, three feedlots cooperated with FSIS to evaluate
production practices and assess residue risks. In 1985, after careful analysis
and adjustment of production practices, these three feedlots were certified by
FSIS as “Verified Production Control” feedlots. What was learned during those
three years now serves as the backbone for the National Cattlemen’s Beef
Association (NCBA) Beef Quality Assurance program.
This voluntary program has clearly been successful. BQA practices have almost
eliminated violations associated with chemical residues and significantly
reduced injection site lesions in fed beef cattle (steers and heifers fed in a
commercial feedyard). However, residues and injection site lesions are still a
significant issue in cull breeding stock (your “used” cows and herd bulls). Cull
cattle provide approximately 15% to 20% of total beef production.
In the 1990s, USDA mandated that all packing and processing plants develop and
implement HACCP programs. To date, similar mandatory regulations do not exist
for preharvest segments of the beef industry. However, in order to provide a
quality, wholesome product without government regulation, industry groups have
developed voluntary safety and quality assurance programs for the production
segments of the industry.
For example, in 1986, the Texas Cattle Feeders Association initiated the first
state BQA program in the country. In recent years, the TCFA program has grown to
incorporate HACCP principles to address safety concerns and further address
quality issues by identifying quality control points within the feedyard
management system. It has paved the way toward ensuring the safety and quality
of fed cattle in their members’ control.
With all of this in mind, the Texas Beef Quality Producer program has been
developed to assist Texas cow-calf and stocker operators with developing BQA
management strategies to ensure the safety and quality of cattle within their
control – your control.
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