as Americans we have to be conscious of the foods that we eat that come from the different livestock. Everything that is not a vegetable comes from some form or another of livestock and sometimes we have to wonder; where is the food coming from? If you asked any five year old he would say “the grocery store”, however as consumers we have to be knowledgeable of the foods we put into our bodies and have good faith that they are coming from quality sources. the cattle industry and government to safeguard the food that we eat. There are already many standards in place, but are they enough? How can we increase the quality of these standards What do we need to be mindful of that decreases the value of these standards What are some of the actions being taken by private industry to ensure quality? Is the government taken the same actions to keep the American consumer safe?
United States Department of Agriculture Standards
Within the United State there is only one set of standards to grade beef and beef products being distributed interstate. The USDA put these standards in place after the Wholesome Meat Act of 1967 which states that, “USDA has authority to control movement of unfit meat and meat products and to require poultry products in interstate and foreign commerce to meet Federal inspection standards.” There are seven standards in place for commercial beef sale in the United States; they are on a sliding scale. Excellent quality beef is labeled as prime, which has a high degree of marbling or fat throughout the back, loin, ribs, and rump. Prime beef is going to be mainly used in steakhouses and restaurants throughout the nation. The quality of this particular type of beef is superior to the next standard of beef, choice...
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...he different vessels of marketing and production. There are also several options for vaccination depending upon if it is being done prior to weaning the calf or during the weaning process.
Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Program has gone through great lengths to ensure calves and cattle are being properly vaccinated. They have come up with a program that is conscious to the different financial and economical situations of the rancher. The most basic program is made up of only one shot per cow, and fails to cover the most common reproductive viruses, brucellosis, leptospirosis and campylobecteriosis. However, this basic vaccination is super cost effective, at only $3.11 per cow. The “best” program covers everything from 5-way leptospirosos, 8-way clostridal toxoid, to Pasteruella hemolytica. This program is almost ridiculous at a cost of $8.69 per cow.
...and the administration of GnRH. Although at the present point time the administration of these treatments, is not economically sustainable due to added time and cost factors it has been seen through long term studies that the use of these vaccines in the regulation of the reproductive cycles, of mares and stallions can provide a more sustainable and ethical method of control that reduces overall population of brumbies and herd sizes.
In today's society, organic food is a giant new thing in which food is produced without any chemicals. In other words, the product must be 100 percent natural. A major food source of the American people is meat, and the way that it is produced today is a major issue. In feedlots, where cattle are fed grain to grow before being slaughtered, the conditions are terrible and horrifying. Cattle are confined to a limited amount of space and not allowed to roam freely. Also in these cattle growing yards, the risk of disease is much higher in these animals than out on the open range grazing on the grass. Beef critics say that there are no cattle breeds that posses the amounts of marbling present to make a good steak. It is a true statement to say that these critics are very indeed wrong. Also, Many people also do not know that that the meat from cattle that are fed grain, is high in fat content and has too much marbling. Grass-fed beef is much leaner than grain-fed beef, has less fats, and is produced all naturally. Therefore, grass-fed beef is much healthier and safer to eat than grain-fed beef.
The original Meat Inspection Act of 1906 gave full authority to the Secretary of Agriculture to inspect and condemn any meat product found out of condition, unhealthy, or unsuitable for human consumption. In contrast to previous laws ordering meat inspections, which were imposed in favor of the European nations to assure them from banning pork trade, this law powerfully considered the American diet and was strongly motivated by its protection. It becomes mandatory to set with accuracy all labels on any type of food, though not all ingredients were provided on the label (Nash 198).
Whether you consider yourself a ‘foodie’ or not, the story of those standards is an interesting one. It so happened that in 1970, a group of farmers got together and set the benchmarks for beef production in the US. And, as they say, the
Other countries meat isn’t the same quality as US meat. Some meat comes from countries such as china where it is legal to feed livestock ground up bone meal from scraped animals. In which that bone meal can carry such diseases such as mad cow disease or a variety of other ailments. Other variances to US policy are things such as pesticides (rodent killer), insecticides (bug killer), and herbicides (weed killer). And when these poisons are used around livestock, they eat them also and are incorporated into the meat you buy at the supermarket. Furthermore, some foreign countries have no sanitation in the way livestock are produced. Some are grown on disease and urine infected water and food. So without labeling of meat origins, the consumer does not know what they are buying which should be immediately changed.
Due to health reasons, the meat packing industry has aroused the attention of many. This has been caused by the safety standards in the meat packing industry. The attention has also been caused by the use of machines in the packing process. The industry uses fast running machines hence the employees are exposed to more injury risk. The industry is majorly comprised of immigrants and undocumented employees. This has greatly attracted attention due to the care for the employees who are mainly non-citizens (United States Department of Labor, 2010).
...eats contact. Finally, families who eat spinal or nervous tissue of cows can greatly reduce their risks of developing mad cow disease by not purchasing such items. The beef industry is willingly under surveillance, making all attempts to produce safe and healthy products. American residents should be assured that all necessary precautions have been taken to keep Mad Cow Disease out of the United States and consumer-friendly beef on market shelves. An excerpt from the FDA Consumer Magazine leaves the nation with this very “important message from both the Harvard and GAO studies. . . We must continue to work hard to make a good system even better. The FDA and the states will continue their aggressive inspection program and will continue to work closely with all components of the cattle and feed communities to help make a, thankfully, low public risk even lower.”
To give background on the FDA and USDA for better understanding the USDA is responsible for meat and poultry, while the FDA is responsible for dairy, seafood, and vegetables. The USDA was founded in 1862 to encourage food creation in the United States (Sherrow 15). Dr. Peter Collier was the first person to suggest rules and laws for the safety of our food (Sherrow 15). Congress passed the Meat Inspection Act in 1890. The Act made the USDA inspectors inspect all pig products (Sherrow 15). In 1906 the Comprehensive Meat Inspection Act was passed. The act assigned inspectors from the UDSA to the United States’ 163 slaughter houses. In the slaughter houses the meat needed to be inspected before and after slaughter (Sherrow 15-16). The FDA is also responsible for protecting food from terrorists and anyone who wants to try to harm the public (Wilson). The FDA oversees 167,000 farms in the United States and 421,000 worldwide farms. The FDA only has 1,100 inspectors to inspect those farms (Wilson). The number of inspections done by the FDA went from 4,573 in 2005 to 3,400 in 2006 (Sherrow 34). According to the Center of Science in the Public Interest the FDA has no authority for prev...
...tical human assumptions about how beef is raised and whether or not it is healthy. Thanks to these people, the industry has become stronger and more united. There is currently, and forever will be, a major need for beef. The effect of this is that there will always be a need for beef producers, processers, and advocates. To keep cattle prices on the rise, and continue the economic growth we are currently seeing throughout the United States, we will have and need some very influential advocates to make sure the world knows the facts about the commercial cattle industry. This in-depth study revealed many of those facts including an industry overview, production and marketing phases, and products of beef. Thanks to the American farmer and rancher the commercial beef cattle industry has and will continue to be a dominant agricultural industry throughout the U.S.A.
Most people do not spend their days wondering where their next meal is going to come from, but as the economic situation gets worse and jobs get harder to find it is becoming an every occurring issue in the United States today. Not only will some of us have to worry about with what money will we buy our food, but now we will all start having to worry about where our food is coming from and is it safe for us to consume. We are moving toward a safer tomorrow every day by regulating certain parts of our food supply system. No matter how long it takes, it is clear that there is always opportunity for improvement in making our Nation healthier and safer.
The federal government has a huge amount of power over America’s food and monitoring food safety. They have many rules and regulations that are required to be followed nationwide. The Delaney Clause of 1958, the regulation of genetically modified organisms and organic agriculture, and the Healthy and Hunger Free Kids Act are just a few of the many ways in which the government regulates the country’s food and the citizens that purchase and ultimately consume it.
When researching diseases that affect animals, I chose to research one that deals with cattle. This disease would be a reproductive venereal disease called vibriosis. Vibriosis can affect all breeds of cattle, male or female, and is the most important cause of infertility in female cattle along with occasional abortions. This disease is caused by bacteria that live in the crevices of a bull’s prepuce, of a bull aged four years or older (Hansen, 1914). Age is a factor because the foreskin of a bull does not develop until then. The disease is spread from an infected bull to a cow during breeding. A bull might be clean, but then infected by a cow who was infected by a bull before him. Many bulls can go years without showing any signs of this disease, whereas female cattle may lose a calf to an abortion the next coming calving season.
Whether we should eat Beef or not eat beef is the question that has been the subject of debate for decades. Some people say that beef is good for people and there are others who say it causes health issues. In reading many articles, there is a lot of misleading information out there about beef. Kerri Ann Jennings states that red meat is “Praised by Paleo Diet advocates and shunned by vegetarians, red meat certainly is a controversial food. And that controversy extends into the research world, where red meat and its impact on our health has been the subject of numerous studies…with conflicting results”. This just really means people have to decide for themselves if they want to consume beef. People should choose to
Vaccines.gov. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 11 Oct. 2006. Web. 03 June 2017.