Archive Article: 1997/12/26

26 December 1997

Beef men can learn lots from Uncle Sam

Can the British beef industry learn anything from Uncle Sam? Perhaps the answer is Yes. After all, 20 years of US research has produced a composite breeding programme that delivers consistently high quality beef which meets market specification 90% of the time.

Moreover, US beef producers claim they could increase production to satisfy the EU market within four years.

That is a threat the UK producers cannot afford to ignore. Our first line of defence should be to improve breeding programmes to increase the proportion of beef which achieves retailer specification.

Then perhaps we could really teach Uncle Sam a thing or two about top quality beef marketing and production based on high welfare standards.