Australia: Focus on Red Meat

“Most of MLA’s funding comes from transaction levies placed on the sale of livestock, with the Australian Government providing matched funding for levy investment in most R&D,” Jenson explains, adding that MLA creates opportunities for livestock supply chains from their combined investments to build demand, both domestic and international, and productivity.

“To that end, MLA strongly supports keeping food safe by assisting the Australian red meat industry manage food safety and quality,” Jenson says. “MLA is the leading provider of research and development solutions for Australia’s red meat industry and is dedicated helping the industry maintain its excellent reputation for product safety, both in Australia and overseas.”

SAFEMEAT is the food safety partnership between the Australian red meat industry and the government. The primary role of SAFEMEAT is overseeing and promoting sound management systems in the red meat industry to ensure the delivery of safe and hygienic products. “MLA conducts research and develops systems to satisfy the needs identified by SAFEMEAT,” Jenson points out.

A key undertaking within SAFEMEAT is the Microbiological Food Safety Research and Development Program, which, Jenson says, is designed to develop a sound scientific basis for food safety and microbiological risk management. “SAFEMEAT places importance on identifying knowledge gaps for food safety risks along the supply chain and conducting research to improve the understanding of foodborne hazards and maintain the status of Australian red meat as safe and healthy,” he emphasizes.

“Healthy livestock are the basis for Australia’s broad market access and high productivity,” Jenson continues. “As an island continent, Australia has a natural barrier to animal and crop diseases, backed by strict quarantine regulations. We have several measures in place to ensure that the safety and quality of Australian red meat are at their highest.”

Meat Standards & Systems

In its ongoing quest to ensure quality and consistency in its product, the Australian red meat industry established a national organization called AUS-MEAT that assumes responsibility for quality standards and accurate descriptions of red meat. AUS-MEAT develops, maintains, and reviews accreditation standards, which are designed to protect the industry’s reputation and integrity in relation to sales, distribution and exports.

“AUS-MEAT has a common language used throughout the marketing chain to ensure all sectors can identify and meet customer requirements,” Jenson says. “It has established specific and high accreditation standards for the processing sector to ensure effective quality assurance procedures are in place every step of the way. In addition to this, a quality management system has been established to cover all aspects of the supply chain.”

While AUS-MEAT sets the standards for industry, Meat Standards Australia (MSA) ensures eating quality at the consumer level. Integrity systems such as Livestock Production Assurance (LPA), the National Feedlot Accreditation Scheme (NFAS), and the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) have also been developed to verify and ensure food safety and quality along the supply chain.

“MSA is a grading system for beef and sheep meat that labels the product with a guaranteed grade and best cooking method to maintain consistency in eating quality,” Jenson says. “When MSA beef and sheep meat are cooked as described, the eating quality is guaranteed at the labeled grade.”

A wide range of cattle and sheep management practices, processing systems, cuts, ageing periods, and cooking methods have been researched by MLA to determine the impact each has on eating quality, Jenson adds.

LPA is an on-farm standards and quality assurance program through which livestock producers are required to register a unique property code, formally assess their production and husbandry systems, and maintain accurate records. “The program also involves independent audits that are conducted to ensure the program’s integrity is maintained,” Jenson says.