Agricultural News
Industry Spot On in Producing Safe, Superior-Tasting Beef, Needs Improvement Communicating That
Wed, 19 Jul 2017 11:19:46 CDT
The US beef industry looks a lot different than it did in the early 90s when the first National Beef Quality Audit was conducted. Dr. Keith Belk of Colorado State University was a graduate assistant then, helping with that first NBQA. Since then, he has been a part of each of the five subsequent audits that have been conducted. Radio Oklahoma Ag Network Farm Director Ron Hays spoke with him recently during the presentation of the 2016 NBQA's findings at the National Cattlemen's Beef Association Summer Business Conference in Denver. Belk says this most recent audit offers the industry a good feel for the job its doing to meet the needs and wants of today's consumers.
"Based on the data from 2016, the industry has done an excellent job at addressing many of the things that have popped up over time, and we have some good news in this audit," Belk said encouragingly. "One of the things that showed up is, we're doing a better job producing higher quality meat."
When you consider the things important to today's consumers, and what influences their purchasing decisions, Belk says, eating satisfaction has become very prevalent. With more cattle grading higher than ever before, the industry is able to continue feeding consumers looking for a superior eating experience that alternative proteins at the supermarket can't match. However, another issue trumps even the taste factor - food safety. Unfortunately, though, as revealed by the audit, consumers are unaware of all the great, self-imposed safety quality standards the industry has implemented and passionately practices.
"We're not marketing the good things that producers do downstream, so that customers understand what they're doing," he said. "As a consequence, one of the things that came out of the interviews is that we need to do a better job or re-engaging the public in what we do; telling them the good story about what we do."
Listen to Dr. Belk and Hays discuss some of the key deliverables that came out of this year's National Beef Quality Audit, on today's Beef Buzz.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR below for today's show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
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