National BQA Audits
The U.S. beef industry continues to support the concept of National Beef Quality Audits as periodic measurements of how the industry is performing and the direction it is moving.
Beef Quality Audits are the industry’s “benchmarking” system in an ever changing industry.
For beef to compete in today’s marketplace, both domestic and export, beef producers must better understand the ever changing needs and desires of the end consumer. Cattle producers must target the market more effectively and alter breeding, husbandry, feeding and handling practices to assure complete compliance with the quality, wholesomeness and safety specifications called for by their customers.
The beef industry has recognized that improvements in quality cannot be made if a benchmark is not available to see where it stands with regard to quality and where and how priorities to improve quality should be placed. Therefore, the first National Beef Quality Audit in 1991 was awarded to scientists from Colorado State University and Texas A&M University who were assisted by scientists from West Texas State University and Texas Tech University.
This landmark project had three parts: Phase I dealt with interviews with packers, purveyors, retailers, restaurateurs and others about their concerns about the quality of beef; Phase II consisted of actual in-plant surveys where carcass data were obtained; and Phase III in which a Strategy Workshop was held to discuss where the U.S. beef industry should be going.
Following the template of that 1991 audit, a series of similar Beef Quality Audits have been launched detailing areas where beef was falling short of the final customer’s expectations and opportunities for expansion and improvement of the beef industry. The U.S. beef industry continues to support the concept of these self-audits as periodic measurements of how the industry is performing and the direction it is moving and should be moving in order to meet the specifications of its customers and the demands set by end-users of beef and beef products.
Montana Beef Quality Assurance,
2116 Broadwater Ave., Suite 307/11
Billings, MT 59102,
406-896-9068,
cpeck@montana.edu
Montana Beef Network,
119 Linfield Hall
Bozeman, MT 59718,
406-994-4323,
mharbac@montana.edu