Tag Archives: beef

Controversy over ‘pink slime’ in the US

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Photo: B+LNZ

A controversy blew up in the US in March and April about the use of lean finely textured beef (LFTB) – also pejoratively coined as ‘pink slime’ – in manufactured ground beef.

Lean, finely-textured beef (LFTB) is lean beef that is separated in a manufacturing process from fatty beef trimmings, to reduce wastage. The process involves treating the LFTB with small amounts of ammonium hydroxide gas or citric acid to eliminate any harmful bacteria present.

The process has been approved as safe by the United States Department of Agriculture and it has been reported that over 70 percent of ground beef used in the US is believed to have incorporated LFTB as an ingredient.

However, a range of media commentators, including ABC News and British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver, have criticised the practice. Despite statements by the USDA and meat industry bodies asserting that LFTB is safe for consumption, a number of major retailers and restaurant chains –  including McDonald’s and Burger King – have recently decided not to use LFTB, as a result of considerable negative publicity about the product.

As a result of the controversy, the major producer of LFTB, Beef Products Inc, announced that it is closing down three of its four processing plants. The American Meat Institute estimates that without LFTB, the industry would need 1.5 million additional head of cattle to make up the difference in beef supply.

LFTB is not used in New Zealand, as the leaner, pasture-raised New Zealand beef does not produce the high fat trimmings that provide the raw ingredient for LFTB, the MIA says.

Published in Food NZ (June/July 2012).

A decade of great steak

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B+LNZ chairman Mike Petersen (left) congratulates Producer of the Decade Karen and Chris Biddles.

Chris and Karen Biddles from Te Atarangi Angus are the victorious winners of this year’s Producer of the Decade at the Steak of Origin grand final held on 15 May 2012.

To celebrate 10 years of the contest to find New Zealand’s most tender and tasty steak, all results from previous competitions were tallied up to find the top performing and most consistent producer.

Alongside this special award, the annual competition was once again hotly contested with Alex Macmillan from Pipiwai being named the 2012 Steak of Origin Grand Champion.

Head judge, Graham Hawkes, said this 10 year celebration has made the competition one to remember.

“There’s been a real festival feel to this year’s contest, with 10 judges from across the decade involved,” Hawkes said. “The competition has certainly come a long way from its humble beginnings but one thing’s for sure, the steak has always been incredible.

Allso awarded was the Brand of the Decade, which went to AngusPure, the NZ Retailer/Wholesaler of the Decade, awarded to Neat Meat and the 2012 Supreme Brand Award which was also won by Neat Meat.

 

New Zealand’s ‘Steak of the Decade’

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New Zealand beef producers are lining up in the hunt for New Zealand’s top beef producer of the decade. Ten finalists were announced today in the competition that is being run to celebrate a decade of the Steak of Origin Challenge which aims to find the nation’s most tender and tasty sirloin steak.

The results of over 3,000 entries from the last nine years of competition have been analysed and will be combined with the results from this year. Beef + Lamb New Zealand Ltd’s chief executive, Dr Scott Champion says 10 years of the Steak of Origin Challenge is a significant milestone for the competition.

“This competition is keenly contested by farmers who are focused on producing the best steak and it goes from strength to strength each year,” he said. The Steak of Origin Producer of the Decade will be decided by the results of this year’s Steak of Origin challenge with semi-finalists also announced today. Ten judges from the past nine years of competition have been invited back to help determine the winner. The judging line-up includes Allyson Gofton, Sir Colin Meads, Sarah Ulmer and Associate Minister of Agriculture, Hon. Nathan Guy. An award for the Brand of the Decade will also be presented to a steak brand which has consistently delivered a quality product. The Steak of Origin semi-final will be held at Gorilla Restaurant in Christchurch on Friday 4 May followed by the Grand Final held during the Beef + Lamb New Zealand Beef Expo in Feilding on Monday 14 May, where all the winners will be announced.

Mandatory livestock tracing one step closer

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A Bill to deliver electronic national identification and tracing of livestock passed its third and final reading in Parliament In February.

Primary Industries Minister David Carter says the National Animal Identification and Tracing (NAIT) Bill is a significant step in protecting farmers in the international marketplace and strengthening New Zealand’s biosecurity system.

The NAIT bill sets out the legal framework for the collection of information on livestock, their location and movement history throughout their lifetime. It also outlines the governance arrangement and powers for the NAIT organisation.

“NAIT needs to be mandatory to be effective,” the Minister says. It will begin with cattle on 1 July this year and deer by 1 March 2013.

“With most other agricultural producing nations already having computerised tracing of individual animals, New Zealand simply cannot afford to lag behind,” he said, adding that NAIT is essentially an insurance policy to support New Zealand’s high livestock health status and biosecurity infrastructure, but can also be used to further improve productivity and on-farm management.

The meat industry supports the introduction of NAIT as it will give greater assurance to customers of the wholesomeness of New Zealand meat products.

Great pastoral conditions along with continuing good prices

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Photo: Courtesy B+LNZ

Beef + Lamb NZ’s mid-season update for the sheep and beef sector reports that export receipts estimated at $6.6 billion hold at last year’s level. Last year, export receipts for the sector were up 15 percent.

Expectations are for a small lift in export volumes and continued good prices relative to recent years. This will be moderated by the strength of the New Zealand dollar, particularly against the Euro and British pound.

The report contained few surprises for B+LNZ Economic Service director Rob Davison, who says it’s rare for such good pastoral conditions and international prices  to align. Lamb prices are expected to average at $115 a head, slightly down on 2010-2011’s high. Offshore prices are expected to remain at good levels, though the stronger NZ dollar against the pound softens the price received here. The recent strengthening of the NZ dollar against its US counterpart is also a concern, Davison says.

Global mutton supplies remain tight, while beef exports are expected to lift in the 2011-2012 season which ends in June.

Processors win time for E.coli testing

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Meat processors have won extra time to get ready for the introduction of  mandatory testing for the Super Six E.coli Shiga toxin producing (STEC) serogroups for product destined for the US.

The US Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) has deferred the original implementation date of 5 March to 4 June 2012, for the required introduction of testing for the Super Six E.coli (non-O157) STEC serogroups (O26, O45, O103, O0111, O121 and O145). The FSIS extension was given to give extra time for processors and laboratories to validate their test methods.

The Meat Industry Association (MIA), through MAF’s Food Safety Authority, had argued for equivalency allowing the transfer of New Zealand’s established E.coli O157:H7 ‘lotting’ arrangements to the Super Six, MIA technical manager Kevin Cresswell says. This argument was accepted – subject to MAF providing the status of the testing method validation of the non-O157 serogroups – meaning that processors here can use an alternative national programme for the sampling of raw beef product for E.coli O157:H7 and six other Shiga toxin-producing E.coli (STEC).

It will simplify the procedure too, saving time and cost, Cresswell explains. “This gives NZ approval to integrate the tests for the six new adulterants with the current E.coli O157:H7 sampling and product disposition protocol.

“This allows for one test per day per premises (as per the current O157) protocol) rather than every consignment having to be retrospectively tested at the same time it is consolidated (by 60 drill samples of frozen cartons as a minimum) as is required by Australia.”

Published in Food NZ magazine (April/May 2012).

 

New nutritional analysis confirms NZ meat packed with nutrients

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The most comprehensive nutritional analysis of New Zealand beef and lamb ever carried out confirms it is densely-packed with nutrients essential for everyday life.

The study, carried out by scientists in the Institute of Food, Nutrition and Human Health at Massey University, analysed 65 nutrients in almost 50 cuts of New Zealand beef and lamb, both raw and cooked.

High quality protein, easily-used iron and zinc and a variety of B vitamins remain the essential parts of red meat’s nutritional make up, but the study revealed some new additions.

“Long chain omega 3 fatty acid levels are higher in meat from animals raised on pasture compared to grain.  These new figures will be of particular interest to our customers overseas, as well as offering Kiwis additional health benefits,” says Professor Roger Purchas from Massey University.  “Our analysis also shows New Zealand beef and lamb contributes in a small way to dietary intakes of vitamin D”.  Worryingly low levels of vitamin D are being seen in Kiwi youngsters, so dietary sources are becoming increasingly important.

The new analysis also confirmed lean red meat as a low fat food, with an average fat content well below 10 percent.  This underlines results of the recent Ministry of Health 2008-9 New Zealand Adult Nutrition Survey, showing red meat’s contribution to dietary fat and saturated fat intakes falling to 6.8 percent and 7.3 percent respectively, dispelling the myth it is a main source of both fat types.

“As an industry, we strive to ensure all our nutrition messages are based on robust science, having undergone rigorous scientific scrutiny,” says Scott Champion, chief executive of Beef + Lamb NZ, which funded the research. “This study provides a solid platform from which to inform and educate all of New Zealand’s customers around the world about the goodness of New Zealand beef and lamb.”

Reproduced from Food NZ magazine (April/May 2012).

Evolving halal

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Tony Egan' Greenlea Premier Meats new managing director

Greenlea Premier Meat’s new managing director Tony Egan spoke at the Fifth World Halal Research Summit in Kuala Lumpur on behalf of the NZ meat industry – the first time a New Zealander has been invited to do so. He talks to Food NZ about his return to the Egan family company and the New Zealand message he took to the Summit.

Egan is enjoying returning to the company he originally joined  in 1993, starting on day one working on the beef chain.

“It’s great to be back,” he says, after his 11 years since he left his role as managing director (marketing and finance) in 2001. Not that he’s been exactly idle in between: he spent five years as chief executive for AFFCO New Zealand, which had a turnover of $1.5 billion and 3,500 staff, before moving on to head up 1,700 staff and 130 locations of New Zealand’s largest quality assurance organisation AsureQuality for another five years.

He rejoined Waikato-based Greenlea Premier Meats in December 2011. The company these days has 360 staff, employed over two sites in Morrinsville and Hamilton, and a throughput of 180,300 animals last season. The loyal staff seem to be  happy with the family values promulgated by the company, which include personal touches such as Easter eggs, Christmas hams and a family open day at Morrinsville where families are invited to come in and see what their parents do at work. As one employee Zane Sayer puts it on the website, “Greenlea has a very pleasant work atmosphere and we take comfort in knowing we are able to work through the entire year.”

Having worked in private and public companies plus a State-Owned Enterprise, Egan reckons he’s covered off most of the business models now and is looking forward to putting his skills to work, both for the family company and also for the industry. He’s already a new council member of the Meat Industry Association (MIA).

His knowledge of the evolution of halal processing requirements for a variety of Muslim markets over the years, plus the fact that AsureQuality was involved in independent testing for porcine and alcohol traces on behalf of halal authorities in its 32 staff Singaporean office, made Egan the ideal contender to speak to the Fifth World Halal Research Summit in Kuala Lumpur on behalf of the industry.The Summit was held in conjunction with the Seventh World Halal Research Forum. With 1,000 delegates expected from 40 countries it was an important opportunity for New Zealand.

MAF: best halal service provider 2011

The invitation follows on from an award received by the Ministry of Agriculture & Forestry (MAF) for best service provider at the 2011 Forum – the first time a non-Muslim country had received the award and came a year after MAF implemented the Animal Products (Overseas Market Access Requirements for Halal Assurances) Notice, Egan explains.

“It’s a great credit to the work MAF’s director of market access Tony Zohrab and the rest of the MAF team have done in this area.”

Currently involving 48 certified processing plants, employing 214 qualified halal slaughtermen in this country, New Zealand’s market for exports of red meat and other edible products to Muslim markets was worth nearly $490 million to the year end June 2011, according to the MIA. With its diverse markets, and offering an outlet for reducing reliance on traditional trading partners, halal represents a sizeable cross-border sector for the meat industry to focus on to grow market share and value in line with the Red Meat Sector Strategy.

Evolution of thought

The message Egan will be taking to Kuala Lumpur on behalf of the industry is that the trade has moved away from the supply of frozen carcases to Iran in the 1970s and 80s towards newer markets in Asia.“There has been an evolution of thought and the New Zealand industry has taken the time, over the last 15-18 years, to better understand those Asian consumers,” Egan says, adding that the journey of understanding has led religion and science to come together.

The perfect example of that understanding is the innovative New Zealand-developed method of halal slaughter that through stunning livestock insensible before slaughter satisfies both Muslim religious requirements for live slaughter and New Zealand and other Western consumers’ requirements for humane slaughter. But that’s only part of the stringent processing standards in place here today as part of the accredited halal programme, which also include: segregation of halal product, supervision during processing, the training and certification of all halal slaughtermen and the commitment and urgency of the workforce to ensure compliance to halal standards.

The Halal Notice represents the evolution of thought and has formed a good foundation for the industry, giving customers an all-important government assurance that what they understand is happening is in fact occurring, Egan says.

“The paradigm has shifted from a one-dimensional process to a multi-dimensional one.”

What does the halal customer need?

The concept of halal, defined by the Qu’Ran as ‘allowed’, ‘permitted’ or lawful’ has slowly become accepted as a consumer lifestyle choice, not only encompassing religion and food, but also finance, non-food products and logistics. It provides a set of laws and guiding principles and separates out those animals that are prohibited ‘haram’ and those permitted ‘halal’, as well as outlining methods of slaughtering, prohibits consuming blood or blood products and intoxicants, such as alcohol).

Halal customer’s needs focus on the concept of ‘tayyib‘, Egan explains: “That food is wholesome, nutritional and safe. It brings in many concepts including environmental sustainability, safety and animal welfare and is not particularly onerous for New Zealand processors to provide.”

Although there are a number of other meat exporting countries servicing halal markets, he believes that New Zealand has the opportunity to take a unique approach, particularly in the innovation of processes in the wholesomeness and in the wholesomeness and food safety areas for which this country is renowned.

With an estimated 1.5 billion Muslims around the globe, halal markets are still growing. Indonesia alone, New Zealand’s largest halal market, was worth over $120 million last year and there is a growing range of other halal customers – Singapore, South Africa, China, France and the US (where there are over 10 million Muslims). Customers are interested not only in the meat itself, but also the by-products like offal. There is a growing halal market for raw materials for pharmaceutical and cosmetic use, where Egan says there is also a role for AsureQuality to play

Challenges ahead, however, include dealing with restrictive tariffs and quotas, limiting New Zealand’s access to various markets which the meat industry is working closely on with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade.

Another area is achieving a consistent understanding of what halal certification means across the many different markets.

“New Zealand’s approach is becoming increasingly accepted as the sensible approach,” Egan says, adding that his speaking opportunity outlined what New Zealand Inc is capable of and what’s possible for the future.

Tony Egan spoke at the Fifth World Halal Research Summit, 4-5 April 2012 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Reproduced with kind permission of Food NZ magazine.