Introduction to Beef Quality Assurance
Beef Quality Assurance is a pre-harvest supply chain management concept that ensures domestic and international beef consumers enjoy ready access to a safe, wholesome and healthy beef supply.
Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) programs provide systematic information to U.S. beef producers and beef consumers on common sense husbandry techniques that can be coupled with accepted scientific knowledge to raise cattle and produce beef under optimum management and environmental conditions. BQA guidelines are designed to make certain all beef consumers can take pride in what they purchase – and can trust and have confidence in the entire beef industry.
Montana’s approximately 1300 BQA program participants recognize that maintaining consumer confidence requires a commitment to quality beef production at every level – from the ranch, to the feedlot and on to the harvest and processing facility. This takes a commitment from every segment within the cattle industry. Nearly every state in the U.S. has an active BQA program. Funding for these efforts comes from state Beef Councils and the national Beef Checkoff through the Cattlemen’s Beef Board. In Montana, BQA activities are enhanced through locally-derived private and public grants, gifts and volunteer energy.
State BQA programs are locally led by organizations such as state beef councils, Land Grant Universities and state cattle associations. In Montana, BQA programs are administered through Montana State University Animal and Range Sciences Department. BQA in Montana is closely allied with the Montana Beef Network. The Montana Stockgrowers Association has developed a BQA advisory committee that helps direct BQA programming throughout the state.
Participation in the BQA program is totally voluntary – and it is not a “government” program. BQA links all beef producers with livestock production specialists, veterinarians, nutritionists, marketers, animal health companies and food purveyors interested in maintaining and improving the quality of cattle and the beef produced in the U.S.
While state BQA programs chart their own direction, program assistance and national leadership is provided by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA). NCBA’s Producer Education Committee continually updates recommended national BQA guidelines from which states can base their BQA programs.
BQA principles are based on good management practices (GMP) that are standard operation procedures (SOP) designed to meet our food production system’s needs. There are two levels of BQA programming: 1) education and training; and 2) verification and documentation of animal husbandry practices.
The many architects of BQA can take pride that their pioneering work is duplicated in other countries and adapted by many other commodity-based food industries. These visionary individuals through their pro-active dedication to a safe, wholesome and healthy beef supply have not only enhanced the position of beef as a highly-desired protein source, they have set the stage – and the benchmark – for improved standards of living worldwide.
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