Will Grading Changes Improve Prices and Markets?

The way that beef is inspected and graded and the prices paid by the processor have been raised on both sides of the Atlantic over the last week.

In the UK, a conference organised by the Royal Agricultural Society of England (RASE) called for a move away from the current EUROP system of classification with beef farmers Paul Westaway and Neil Rowe demanding a new beef carcase grading system for the UK.

Mr Westaway said that the UK beef industry does not produce a consistent enough product and needs to catch up with pork and chicken.

“Beef quality varies hugely and this is down to cattle being culled at different ages, being fed differently and being from different breeds.” he said.

At the opening of the Livestock Event in the UK, the junior agriculture minister George Eustice said that because of difficult times with low prices and hard market conditions in the beef sector, an agreement had been reached between the National Farmers Union and the British Meat Processors Association on a voluntary code of conduct on charges and specifications handed down by the abattoirs to farmers.

Mr Eustice also called for more progress to be made by the industry in the field of genetics to improve productivity.

In Ireland, agriculture minister Simon Coveney called on meat processors to be more pro-active in relation to the implementation of the recommendations of the Dowling Report on the Beef Sector.

The minister said that it was critically important to restore confidence and build trust between suppliers and processors.

“Irish beef farmers are feeling the pressure at the moment. Prices have declined significantly since the highs of last year, not only in Ireland, but internationally. That is the market reality,” he said.

“However, in circumstances where there is downward pressure on prices, it is all the more important that the relationship between processors and farmers is built on transparency and trust.

In the USA, the American Meat Science Association has recommended that grading beef carcases should be carried out by instruments and technology.

The paper by the AMSA Grading Standards Committee and created by AMSA members Dr Gretchen Mafi, Dr John Scanga and Bailey Harsh shows that instruments are much more consistent than traditional visual assessment of marbling score to determine USDA Quality Grade and are effectively sorting carcases into expected palatability groups, the major goal of USDA Beef Carcase Quality Grades.

Instruments also reduce grader-to-grader and plant-to-plant variation in quality grade application.

In Canada, The Government of Canada has made amendments to the Meat Inspection Regulations, 1990, aimed at streamlining the requirements for federally registered meat establishments and those seeking federal registration.

As part of the Government of Canada's Red Tape Reduction initiative, the amendments eliminate the mandatory pre-registration of construction materials, packaging materials and non-food chemicals used in federally registered meat establishments.