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Introduction  WHAT IS BEEF QUALITY ASSURANCE? Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) is a program to ensure that beef and dairy cattle are maintained in a manner, which will result in a safe and wholesome beef product for the consumer. Specifically, BQA is designed to enhance carcass quality by preventing residues, pathogen contamination and carcass defects such as injection site blemishes and bruises. The Ohio BQA program is based on recommended national guidelines and scientific research. The goal of the Ohio BQA program is to increase the competitive base for marketing Ohio cattle. This will enable beef producers to enhance their product and maximize marketability. 1. Set production standards in your operation,
which meet or exceed the National
Concern over food wholesomeness and safety is an important consumer issue. It is of utmost importance that the public knows beef is a safe product. BQA is a good business practice that can identify potential problem areas and thus avoid potential product defects. Seedstock, cow-calf and dairy producers, stocker operators and feeders all must take responsibility for the production of a safe food product through proper animal care, handling, and management practices. Each should assume the responsibility for the role they play in delivering a quality beef product to their respective markets. Consumers have always wanted safe food. Because of concerns for beef safety, in 1980 cattlemen began investigating ways to ensure that their production practices would pass the scrutiny of the consumer. In 1982, the United States Department of Agriculture and Food Safety Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS) began working with the beef industry in the United States to develop the Pre-harvest Beef Safety Production Program. The beef industry adopted the term Beef Quality Assurance (BQA). Implementing BQA practices provides cattlemen an important key for avoiding additional government regulation. Voluntary producer driven programs have proven very successful and will continue to allow the industry the flexibility needed to produce safe, wholesome food in an economical manner. Between 1982 and 1985, three feedlots and USDA-FSIS evaluated production practices to assess residue risks. In 1985, after careful analysis and adjustment of production practices, these three feedlots were certified by the USDA-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) BQA program. Success of the effort is clear; violative chemical residues have almost disappeared in fed beef cattle and injection site lesions have been reduced by over 67 percent. The principles of BQA are similar to those developed by Pillsbury for the quality control program for supplying food to the NASA space program. Their program, the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point program (HACCP), gained USDA acceptance and is presently the outline for quality assurance programs in packing houses and processing facilities. HACCP is a process of determining what could go wrong, planning to avoid it and documenting what you have done, with the additional step of validation and monitoring success. As of January 1, 2000, all livestock processing packing plants have developed HACCP programs according to USDA guidelines. The Ohio BQA program is designed to bring best management practices to the farm that, along with HACCP principles applied at slaughter and processing facilities, will insure a safe, wholesome, uniform sized beef product for consumers. |
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