Better beef through quality assurance certification (2020)

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Better beef through quality assurance certification

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ISSUE

Livestock producers are continually looking for ways to ensure the sale of a quality product. And in a society where food products rapidly move across the nation, consumers must be able to trace that food back to its origin. The Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) certification is an excellent opportunity to improve on both of these measures.

RESPONSE

At the 2020 Delaware Agriculture Week event, representatives from Pennsylvania’s Beef Council and the National Beef Quality Assurance program hosted a workshop targeted towards livestock producers. Topics discussed included the benefits of the BQA program and the importance of disease traceability during food recalls.

IMPACT

Sixteen producers attended the workshop, representing 469 Beef cattle, 1495 acres owned land and 1040 acres of rented land. Fourteen attendees completed the program evaluation, indicating that they better understood BQA program basics and the importance of disease traceability. Respondents also said they planned to alter their management by becoming BQA certified, preparing written emergency plans, improving their biosecurity plan and being more diligent in identifying their cattle.