Comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials demonstrate beef can be enjoyed in variety of heart-healthy diets

Gold standard nutrition research shows unprocessed beef does not elevate cardiovascular disease risk factors

Indiana University School of Public Health

A recently published, comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis has added to the growing body of evidence showing that beef can be enjoyed in a heart-healthy diet. Specifically, research consistently demonstrated that eating two (3-ounce) servings of unprocessed beef, on average, in a daily dietary pattern had no significant impact on most cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. The study, “Beef Consumption and Cardiovascular Risk Factors: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials,” was published in Current Developments in Nutrition. Importantly, this systematic review and meta-analysis assessed randomized human clinical trials, which are well-established as being the gold-standard nutrition research that should inform public health recommendations, such as the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

Experts often stress the importance of dietary guidance being based on the highest quality research to inform evidence-based recommendations that can effectively improve public health. However, given the challenges with conducting long-term randomized controlled trials (RCTs), guidance is often based on observational evidence that does not prove cause and effect – and which often inconsistently classifies food. Red meat is a broad category that includes many different meats of varying fat content and levels of processing. Combining this variety of meats into one group can lead to oversimplified recommendations, such as “eat less red meat,” and overlooks potential benefits of individual red meats, such as lean beef.

The study authors noted that, in both observational studies and RCTs assessing dietary components and/or patterns on cardiometabolic outcomes, “red meat” is a large category including both unprocessed and processed products, as well as a range of items such as beef, pork, lamb and even some types of poultry that are frequently clustered together under the umbrella term “red meat.” In this meta-analysis, 20 RCTs were assessed, which included a variety of dietary patterns with unprocessed or minimally processed beef.

“Given the disparity of products in the ‘red meat’ category, study methods that group all red meats together can lead to overly generalized findings,” said Kevin C. Maki, PhD, Adjunct Professor and Dean’s Eminent Scholar, Indiana University School of Public Health-Bloomington, and co-lead of this study. “However, when high-quality clinical trials analyze unprocessed or minimally processed beef as part of various dietary patterns, results have generally indicated that beef consumption has no adverse effects on traditional risk factors for cardiovascular disease.”

Key findings included:

• Beef intake did not impact blood pressure or most lipoprotein-related variables, including total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), triglycerides, non-HDL-C, apolipoprotein (apo) A, apo B, and very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (VLDL-C).
• Unprocessed beef contains more cholesterol-lowering or neutral fatty acids than cholesterol-raising fatty acids, so beef intake did not significantly affect most blood lipids, apolipoproteins, or blood pressures compared to diets with little to no beef.
• Beef consumption had a small, but statistically significant effect on low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), corresponding to about 2.7 mg/dL higher LDL-C in diets containing more beef compared to low or no beef diets. However, testing of the contribution of each individual study to the overall findings showed that one study, where baseline values for LDL-C were already lower prior to consuming beef, was the primary influence of this result. When this study was removed from the analysis, the effect on LDL-C was no longer significant.
• The average amount of beef in the “higher” beef treatments was about 5.7 ounces, or approximately 2 servings/day. On average, American adults (19 years and older) consume 1.6 ounces of total beef each day. 

Consistent evidence from previously published RCTs demonstrates that 1-2 servings of lean beef can be enjoyed daily as part of a heart-healthy diet. For example, the Beef in an Optimal Lean Diet (BOLD) study was a landmark clinical trial demonstrating how subjects who included 4-5.4 ounces of lean beef into a Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH)-style dietary pattern rich in other healthy foods like vegetables, fruits, whole grains and low-fat dairy maintained normal cholesterol levels.

Systematic reviews and meta-analyses of RCTs are regarded as the highest quality evidence, as they synthesize data from multiple relevant, rigorously controlled studies. In addition, it is well-established that bias can influence the findings of meta-analyses that pool results from clinical trials; therefore, several sources of potential bias were evaluated in this investigation. Of note, 71% of studies funded by the beef industry had a low risk of bias compared to only 40% of studies not funded by the beef industry. 

“This research is a rigorous review of high-quality evidence, which can be useful for informing accurate and reliable public health guidance about unprocessed beef in healthy dietary patterns,” added Dr. Maki. “Our findings suggest that beef may be enjoyed in a variety of heart-healthy diets.”

This research was funded by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), a contractor to the Beef Checkoff. NCBA was not involved in the study design, data collection and analysis, or publication of the findings.

---

Journal

Current Developments in Nutrition

DOI

10.1016/j.cdnut.2024.104500 

Method of Research

Systematic review

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Beef Consumption and Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

COI Statement

KCM reports financial support was provided by Beef Checkoff and a relationship with Beef Checkoff that includes funding grants. The other authors report no conflicts of interest.

 

Eating lean beef as part of a healthy diet may not increase heart disease risk

Moderate portions of lean beef as part of a Mediterranean diet did not increase one indicator of heart disease risk, according to a new study

Penn State

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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Eating moderate amounts of lean beef as part of a Mediterranean diet does not increase an emerging risk factor for cardiovascular disease, according to a new study by an interdisciplinary research team at Penn State. The researchers examined indicators of heart health and gut microbiome diversity among relatively young and healthy participants who ate four different diets, including varying amounts and types of beef, for four weeks. 

In the study, recently published in Journal of the American Heart Association, the researchers found that eating a Mediterranean diet with either .5 or 2.5 ounces of lean beef each day did not increase blood levels of trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), an emerging indicator of risk for cardiovascular disease. This was in comparison to an average American diet with 2.5 ounces of regular beef each day and a third Mediterranean diet that included 5.5 ounces of lean beef each day. TMAO, a byproduct of metabolism, can be produced when people consume animal products including beef. 

“Observational evidence shows higher levels of TMAO are associated with higher cardiovascular risk,” said Kristina Petersen, associate professor of nutritional sciences and senior author of this study. “In this study we wanted to better understand the relationship between lean beef consumption and TMAO levels in the context of a healthy, Mediterranean style diet.” 

People have long been warned to limit beef intake because higher beef consumption has been linked to risk of heart disease, according to Petersen. These findings align with prior research examining other risk factors and suggest that moderate consumption of lean, unprocessed beef as part of a healthy diet does not worsen risk factors for heart disease. 

Measuring the impact of different diets 

The researchers analyzed samples from a previous study involving Petersen that examined beef in a Mediterranean diet.  For this analysis, 30 participants were provided with all meals and snacks for four separate four-week periods. In this experimental design, every participant consumed all four diets, which reduced the possibility that results could occur due to differences between the people eating each diet.

During one of the four-week study periods, participants consumed an average American diet, based on U.S data from the time the study was designed. In the American diet period, participants consumed meals that were composed of 52% carbohydrates, 15% proteins and 33% fats. Each day, they ate 2.5 ounces — about the size of a deck of cards — of regular beef, which contains more than 10% fat. The American diet is higher in saturated fats and lower in olive oil, fruits and vegetables than the Mediterranean diet, Petersen said. 

During the other periods of the study, participants consumed Mediterranean style diets that were composed of 42% carbohydrates, 17% proteins and 41% fats. The Mediterranean diets included more olive oil, fruits and vegetables than the American diet. 

During one of the Mediterranean diet periods, participants ate .5 ounces of beef each day, which is a cube of meat smaller than one inch and reflects the amount of red meat consumed in a traditional Mediterranean diet. During another Mediterranean diet period, participants ate 2.5 ounces of beef each day. During the other Mediterranean period, participants ate 5.5 ounces of beef each day. 

The beef consumed in the Mediterranean diet periods was either lean — less than 10% fat — or extra lean — less than 5% fat — while the beef in the American diet period was not lean. All beef in the study was unprocessed. 

Participants ate each diet in a random order and were given at least one week off between dietary periods. Researchers used three types of biological samples — blood, feces and urine — from each participant to measure TMAO levels and the diversity of participants’ gut microbiomes. 

Can lean beef be part of a healthy diet? 

When participants ate .5 or 2.5 ounces of lean beef as part of a Mediterranean diet, they had lower blood levels of TMAO than when they ate the American diet, according to the results of the study. When participants ate the American diet with 2.5 ounces of non-lean beef daily or the Mediterranean diet with 5.5 ounces of lean beef daily, their TMAO levels were not different. These findings suggest dietary quality was more important than the amount of beef eaten, the researchers said.

"We chose 2.5 ounces of lean beef because that approximates the amount of beef that the average American consumes each day,” said Zachary DiMattia, doctoral candidate in nutritional sciences and lead author of this study. “This study suggests that, in the context of a healthy dietary pattern, people may be able to include similar amounts of lean beef without increasing their TMAO levels. If people eat reasonable portions of lean, unprocessed beef as part of a Mediterranean-style diet, we would not expect this specific marker of cardiovascular disease risk to rise.”

In addition to TMAO levels, the researchers examined how the different diets affected the diversity of participants’ gut microbiomes. Results indicated that all three Mediterranean diets increased gut microbiome diversity compared to the American diet.  

The researchers said that further research is needed to understand the role the gut microbiome plays in the relationship between diet and TMAO levels. They agreed, however, that this study has implications for individuals who want to eat a healthy diet.

“Lean, moderately sized, unprocessed cuts of beef can be included as part of a healthy diet when people are consuming plenty of fruits, vegetables and healthy fats like olive oil,” DiMattia said.

More dietary impacts of lean beef 

This study focused on TMAO levels, but Petersen’s laboratory group previously explored other health effects of adding lean beef to a Mediterranean diet.

In a study from earlier this year using the same data, the researchers examined how beef consumption affected the blood vessel health. The researchers found that a Mediterranean diet with lean beef resulted in lower blood pressure than when participants consumed an American diet.

Additionally, doctoral student Fatemeh Jafari led a review of previous studies that examined whether red meat consumption raised TMAO levels. The literature review highlighted the complicated nature of TMAO, Petersen said. Just under half of the studies found that red meat increased TMAO, while the rest showed no increase in TMAO associated with beef consumption.

Healthy eating is essential 

The most important way to reduce risk, according to the researchers, is to establish healthy eating habits. They said that by consuming more vegetables, fruits and whole grains and reducing saturated fats, people can reduce their risk of heart disease. They also cautioned against taking these results out of context.

“This evidence does not mean you can necessarily eat a week’s worth of beef — for example, a single, 17.5-ounce steak — at one time and see the same results,” Petersen said. “Additionally, this recommendation does not extend to non-lean beef or processed meats like sausage or salami. Finally, these studies were conducted in relatively young, healthy individuals, so further research is needed in older people or anyone with elevated heart disease risk.”

Jingcheng Zhao, postdoctoral researcher in nutritional sciences; Fuhua Hao, assistant research professor of veterinary and biomedical sciences ; Sergei Koshkin, assistant research professor at the Penn State Huck Institute of Life Sciences; Jordan Bisanz, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology and Dorothy Foehr and J. Lloyd Huck Early Career Chair in Host-Microbiome Interactions; Andrew Patterson, professor of molecular toxicology and of biochemistry and molecular biology; Jennifer Fleming, associate teaching professor of nutritional sciences; and Penny Kris Etherton, retired Evan Pugh University Professor of Nutritional Sciences, contributed to this research.

This research was funded by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association — a contractor to the Beef Checkoff — and Penn State.

---

Journal

Journal of the American Heart Association

DOI

10.1161/JAHA.125.041063 

Method of Research

Randomized controlled/clinical trial

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Effect of Varying Quantities of Lean Beef as Part of a Mediterranean‐Style Dietary Pattern on Gut Microbiota and Plasma, Fecal, and Urinary Metabolites: A Randomized Crossover Controlled Feeding Trial

Brazil again top global beef exporter, followed by India, USA and Australia

Tuesday, April 19th 2022 

Brazil is projected to account for 22% of global beef exports. After disruptions in 2021, Brazil has resumed exporting beef to China/Hong Kong.

Brazil during March exported 203,490 tons of beef, up 28% year on year, and the UN Department of Agriculture anticipated that the country is projected to become once again the largest beef exporter in 2022., with shipments 12,1% higher than in 2021.

Brazil has been the largest beef exporter running for the last five years, and since becoming the leading exporter in 2004, it has been at the top of the ranking in 14 out of the last 20 years.

Brazil is projected to account for 22% of global beef exports. After disruptions in 2021, Brazil has resumed exporting beef to China/Hong Kong.

Exports to the U.S. increased by 131% in 2021 and are sharply higher so far in 2022, following increased Brazilian market access to the fresh product in early 2021. However, Brazil will encounter sharply higher tariff rates in 2022 for exports to the U.S. once the “other country” Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) is met.

According to the Brazilian Meatpacking Association (Abrafrigo), income generated from beef and processed products during March grew 57% reaching US$ 1.124 billion, an all-time high for March.

“In addition to exports growth, average product prices rose from US$4,415 (per ton) last year to US$5,319, considering the first three months of the year,” Abrafrigo said in a note.

Beef exports totaled 545,751 tons from January through March, 33% more than in the same period in 2021, generating US$2.9 billion, a 60% increase

China continues to lead among importers, with 188,236 tons in the quarter (+30.6%) and when added to Hong Kong, beef exports to China totaled 275.300 tons and US$ 1.658 billion, 50.45% and 57.11%, respectively, compared to the first quarter. According to Abrafrigo, the United States ranked second in the quarter, with 69,799 tons (+395%).

Overall the tier of beef exporting countries includes U.S., India and Australia in that order and with roughly the same volume of exports. By a small margin, the latest USDA forecast is for the U.S. to be the second-largest beef exporting country for the second consecutive year in 2022.

India is forecast to be the third-largest beef exporting country in 2022, with sales increasing year over year from 2021 levels. India was the largest global beef exporter from 2014 to 2016 but slowed and declined to a recent low in 2020 before recovering. Production of bovine meat in India includes beef and meat from water buffalo (carabeef).

Australia is forecast to be the fourth-largest beef exporting country in 2022. Beef production in Australia dropped to the lowest level in more than two decades in 2021 as the industry began to rebuild after several years of drought-forced liquidation. Beef exports are forecast to increase by 14.2% year over year in 2022. Australia accounted for just 12.3% of U.S. beef imports in 2021, the lowest on record. This compares to an average share of nearly 29% for the prior 20 years.

The top four beef exporting countries represent about 60% of the 2022 projected global total in the USDA report. The third tier of beef exporting countries begins at about half the level of Australia, including Argentina, the E.U., New Zealand, Canada and Uruguay.

Exports from these five countries are projected to decrease by 3.4% in 2022, with only the E. U. showing a slight increase in exports. Together, the top nine exporting countries are forecast to account for nearly 87% of global beef exports in 2022. Additionally, beef exports from Mexico and Paraguay are forecast at slightly more than half of the Argentina level and bring the total share of the top eleven beef exporters to 93% of the global total in 2022.

Why beef is off the menu for some climate-conscious foodies

Inayat Singh, Alice Hopton 

CBC MAY 2,2021

© Evan Mitsui Ikeila Wright readies takeout packages in her Toronto restaurant, One Love Vegetarian. She grew up eating beef, and says food is a personal choice, but hopes people will also make it 'a conscious choice.'

Growing up on a farm in southern Ontario, Toronto chef Ikeila Wright says she ate enough beef as a child to last her a lifetime.

Then, her parents grew crops and raised livestock. Now, she's the chef and owner at One Love Vegetarian, a Jamaican vegetarian restaurant in Toronto.

"What I eat, what I put on my plate, is personal. And I think for everyone it should be personal, but it also should be conscious," Wright said.

"We have to think about sustainability. We have to think about future generations, because history will find us accountable for the choices that we make now."

Wright chose to become vegetarian for health and environmental reasons. Her popular restaurant serves up hearty Jamaican dishes such as callaloo, a barbecue tofu stir fry, potato and chickpea rotis and their signature corn soup.

She's part of a growing number of people who are worried about the carbon footprint of meat — and beef in particular, which the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization estimates is responsible for 41 per cent of all livestock emissions, far more than other meats.

Last week, the major U.S. food magazine and website, Epicurious, took a public stand on the issue by announcing they were no longer publishing beef recipes, because of how carbon-intensive the protein is

.

© Lukas Gojda / Shutterstock Beef steaks on the grill. In 2019, beef was the type of red meat with the largest amount available for consumption per capita (18.2 kg/person), according to Statistics Canada.

Singling out beef

While meat products in general result in greater greenhouse gas emissions than plant-based sources of protein, Epicurious singled out beef arguing that one ingredient makes a difference.

In a post titled "The Planet on the Plate: Why Epicurious Left Beef Behind," the magazine's editors cited statistics from the World Resources Institute that beef requires 20 times more land and makes 20 times more greenhouse gases than common plant proteins, such as beans. It is also three times more carbon intensive than poultry and pork.

"It might not feel like much, but cutting out just a single ingredient — beef — can have an outsize impact on making a person's cooking more environmentally friendly," the editors wrote.

David Tamarkin, one of the co-authors of the post, is the former digital editor of Epicurious. In an interview with CBC Radio's As It Happens, he said that the magazine made the decision to stop posting new recipes with beef a year before the public announcement, in an effort to be "the most sustainable home cooking publication in the world."

"If you think about the point of a food publication like Epicurious, the whole point, its entire purpose, is to influence the way that people eat," Tamarkin said.

"There are millions and millions of people who go to Epicurious every month. If we were successful in replacing one beef meal with one vegetarian meal a month, that is a huge win. Because if everybody did that, that would make an enormous impact on the sustainability of our diets."

© Toby Melville/Reuters Beef production is being singled out as more carbon intensive than other meats or plant-based protein sources.

Greenhouse gas emissions from beef

The question for Canadians is how much beef do people need to cut down on to make an impact on greenhouse gas emissions?

Researcher Jim Dyer set out to answer this question in a report last year for Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. The Cambridge, Ont.-based consultant has worked for the federal government in the past and studies the environmental impact of raising livestock.

The study, aimed at the livestock industry, modelled scenarios where Canadians tweaked their meat consumption without reducing their overall protein intake or cutting out any meat completely.

The modelling found that if red meat consumption dropped 25 per cent — in line with medical recommendations — and was one-quarter beef, three-quarters pork, Canada's total greenhouse gas emissions from the livestock sector dropped 10.7 per cent. (The study assumed that any drop in red-meat consumption was replaced with chicken.)

"Given the very high GHG emission intensity of beef, it should not be surprising that this analysis found that diversifying Canadian protein intake away from beef to be such an attractive option for lowering the GHG emission budget of the Canadian agriculture sector," the report said.

Other analyses, including the planetary health diet published in the Lancet in 2019, recommend cutting meat consumption significantly, down to just one serving of beef per week.

Dyer's paper did not model the impact of cutting out meat entirely from the Canadian diet and replacing it with plant-based proteins like pulses. But he says that shifting to vegan diets would have even greater impacts on carbon emissions.

"The first message was really quite simple, and that is: eat less beef. You still need your protein so find your protein from other ways," he said.

Grass vs. grain

Typically, grass-fed beef — where cattle graze in a pasture — has been analyzed as higher in emissions than feedlot beef, in part because of land use. But many studies, including Dyer's, don't account for the other environmental benefits of grass-fed beef, such as the carbon sequestration in the grass and soil.

That can mean the higher emissions from grassfed beef are offset by the carbon sequestered in the pasture, according to a 2018 study, although uncertainty remains about how much carbon is sequestered.

Dyer's recommendation is that people should eat less beef — and when they do, they should choose grass-fed beef.

That's important for Cedric MacLeod, a grass-fed beef producer in New Brunswick. MacLeod and his family operate Local Valley Farm, a farm where cattle roam free and feed on 40 hectares of strategically planted grass. The farm uses as little fertilizer as possible by planting specific types of grasses and using manure effectively, and runs on solar energy. MacLeod, a soil scientist by training, says principles of sustainability are top of mind.

© Supplied by Christopher Parent Cedric MacLeod raises grass-fed cattle at his farm in New Brunswick, where he follows sustainable practices to cut fertilizers and use renewable energy.

"We do everything we can certainly to minimize our emissions," MacLeod said.

"For me, managing a grass farm where I employ cattle to help me to manage said grass, so that it helps the soil which I own, which ultimately I'm hoping to pass on to the next generation, in much, much better shape than what I found it."

MacLeod says that people should be concerned about where and how their food is raised, and be willing to pay for it.

"The chicken growers play a role. The potato growers play a role. The corn and soybean guys play a role. The cattle sector plays an important role because we're managing the grassland," MacLeod said.

"And when you stitch all those landscape functions together and agriculture as a whole, we're all contributing to the sector's contribution to the fight against climate change."

CHARLEBOIS: Beef on the brink: Labour strikes expose cracks in Canada’s meat processing industry

“Labour strikes at Cargill's Guelph and perhaps Calgary plants reveal deep-seated vulnerabilities in Canada's beef processing industry, from heavy reliance on a few major facilities to the challenges of poor working conditions. As beef prices soar and consumption drops, the sector faces an urgent need for modernization and investment.”

Author of the article:Dr. Sylvain Charlebois
Published Jun 02, 2024 •

J

A Cargill meat processing plant is shown in Chambly, Que., south of Montreal

 PHOTO BY GRAHAM HUGHES /THE CANADIAN PRESS


Nearly 1,000 Cargill workers in Guelph are on strike, marking the end of its first week. The Guelph plant is one of the largest beef processing facilities in the country and the largest in Eastern Canada. However, this might just be the beginning. The Cargill Case Ready plant in Calgary could also see workers on the picket lines later this month, as a strike vote is scheduled for June 5-6. Labour disputes in beef processing are not new, and the pandemic highlighted the dark side of working conditions in this sector. The beef industry now faces a potential rupture that has been long overdue.

The Guelph plant is the only major federally licensed beef processing facility in Eastern Canada, capable of exporting and shipping outside the province. If the strike extends beyond a few weeks, consumers in Eastern Canada might see more imported beef from the United States or even Mexico. However, it is unlikely that prices will be significantly impacted, given that they are already quite high at the meat counter.

This is not good news for cattle producers in Ontario and Quebec. Eastern-based cattle producers can hold on to their livestock for a while, but costs inevitably rise with keeping livestock, and quality is also impacted. They may need to transport their herd to Alberta or the United States to sell. Regardless, the distances to harvest the meat would clearly be greater and more costly.

The potential strike at the Calgary plant could also disrupt the beef market in many parts of the country. Meat is sourced from the major Cargill beef processing facility in High River and then transported to Calgary, where workers trim, weigh, and package it. The packaged products are shipped and distributed on the same day. The domino effect created by an idled Calgary plant could be substantial.

Canada produces excellent beef, but the weakest link in the beef sector has always been domestic processing. Just three major plants process about 90% of all the beef in the entire country. These plants rely heavily on foreign workers, as recruitment has always been challenging due to the rough working conditions.

For consumers, climate change and complexities affecting supply chains have slowly made beef a luxury item at the grocery store. Due to droughts affecting inventories in both the United States and Canada, some beef cuts have increased by almost 50% since early 2020. Prices have been incredibly volatile. Ground beef, known for its price stability and affordability, has increased by 11%, according to Statistics Canada. With higher prices, beef consumption has significantly decreased. Each Canadian is expected to consume less than 24 kg of beef in 2024, the lowest level in more than 50 years. That’s a drop of 38.4% since 1980, and most experts expect that trend to continue.

Despite its luxury status, the beef value chain has always been managed with acute frugality. In pork and chicken, the processing sector has seen more capital investment and automation. New greenfield plants have been built in Hamilton, London, and other parts of the country. However, the beef industry has not seen a new plant in years, making it more difficult to comply with new food safety and working environment regulations.

It’s not as if beef processing is dominated by underfunded players. Take Cargill, for example. The company, a privately held U.S. firm with a 159-year history, reported annual revenues exceeding $170 billion in 2023. Net profits, however, were less than $4 billion, demonstrating how low margins are in the food industry. Cargill employs over 160,000 people across more than 70 countries. JBS, another foreign company, controls the other federally licensed plant in Alberta and is also a massive organization.

These labour disruptions point to a much broader problem in federally licensed beef processing that has not been addressed in years. Every time a plant closes, for one reason or another, beef producers are held hostage with no compensation while retail prices increase. As for striking workers, it’s hard to blame them, as they know few other Canadians would want to do the job, so why not ask for more money? Unless automation takes a greater role in beef processing, the industry will continue to operate archaic plants worthy of the 1980s.


– Dr. Sylvain Charlebois is senior director of the agri-food analytics lab and a professor in food distribution and policy at Dalhousie University

Prairie farmers using high-end Wagyu genetics to create 'snow beef'

© Laura Sciarpelletti/CBC Ian Crosbie with a 10-week-old Wagyu-cross calf at Benbie Holsteins in south-central Saskatchewan, his farm just outside the village of Caronport, about 90 kilometres west of Regina.

Benbie Holsteins in south-central Saskatchewan milks 150 Holsteins every day, but the dairy farm does not need all of its heifer calves for milking, so the remainder are used for something very different: snow beef.

Snow beef comes from artificially inseminating a Holstein heifer with whole blood Japanese Wagyu, the world's most expensive and exclusive beef.

After becoming interested in the luxury beef's story, farmer Ian Crosbie bought full blood semen from Wagyu Sekai in Puslinch, Ont., and began an artificial insemination program. He launched the snow beef product in 2018 at his farm just outside the village of Caronport, about 90 kilometres west of Regina.

"It was an investment; a bit of a risk at the time, too," said Crosbie, who would not say how much it cost him. "But it all stemmed from us doing a better job of managing our dairy herd to begin with."

Canada's beef industry produces about 1.55 million tonnes of meat each year, according to the Canadian Cattlemen's Association. In 2019, the cattle industry generated $9.4 billion in farm cash receipts

.

© CBC Crosbie, who grew up on a farm, launched his snow beef product in 2018. 'It was an investment; a bit of a risk at the time, too,' he says.

There are only a handful of snow beef producers in Canada, but Crosbie's leap of faith is a sign of how some are getting creative with their products as a way to stand out in a massive market and appeal to consumers who are increasingly conscious of the quality of the meat they're buying and its origin story.

Interest in cattle breeding runs deep

Crosbie, 29, has been fascinated with animal breeding since he was 10 years old. Growing up on a farm, he loved picking out which Holstein bulls his family was going to use next for breeding.

"I've been very fascinated with seeing what you can produce from just a thought in your own head, to applying it practically on the farm — what you can wind up producing and how you can see the change in the animals over the generations," he said.

Crosbie's great-grandfather established the farm west of Moose Jaw, Sask., after the Second World War, and it has been family owned and operated ever since.

"It's been in my blood. It was right from the get-go. I always remember racing Dad in the winter months back from the barn.... That's stuck with me forever. It never crossed my mind to do anything other than farming."

Raising Wagyu-cross breeds

The snow beef difference isn't just buried in its DNA. Regular Holsteins are black and white, but the Holstein heifers that have been artificially inseminated with Wagyu semen produce calves that are only black at birth.

Crosbie said Wagyu crosses also have distinctly healthy characteristics.

"They come out with a lot of hybrid vigour, because when you cross two very distinct bloodlines, you get extremely aggressive, healthy calves right from the get-go. They just do really well."

Another trait that sets the Wagyu crosses apart from Holstein dairy cows is their temperament. The crosses are extremely friendly and will nuzzle humans.

Wagyu crosses are also more lean and feminine-looking than a typical Holstein, and they take longer to reach their peak size.

© Laura Sciarpelletti/CBC One of the massive Wagyu-cross cows in the finishing pen at Benbie Holsteins.

By the time Holsteins are a year old, they're put on a full regimented finishing diet and will be on feed for about 150 days to add weight. When they hit the optimal 590-kilogram mark, they're between 15 and 18 months old. That's when they are sent to the abattoir.

But Wagyu crosses only start their finishing diet when they are about 15 months old, and they won't head to the abattoir until they are 28 or 29 months old. This allows them to grow much taller than a typical Holstein and put on massive frames.

The crosses are fed a specialized grain regimen of rolled barley, whole oats, distiller's grain from wheat or corn, molasses and a mineral mixture imported from Texas.

"That helps us get the fat content," Crosbie said. "The oleic acid levels actually rise the longer an animal's on feed, too. You're putting more money into it, but what you get out of is very much so worth it."

Tasting the difference

The main thing that sets a Wagyu steak apart from a regular steak is the fat. Wagyu contains intramuscular fat or marbling — contributing to the name "snow beef." This is hailed by chefs and home cooks alike because of the rich, buttery texture it provides.

"The fat itself is just a completely different fat," Crosbie said.

Snow beef is higher in unsaturated fats and lower in saturated fats.

"It's like the difference in going and getting a vegetable oil in the supermarket: You can get your cheapest oils, your canola oils, your sunflower oils or your olive oils. There's a wide variety of them, and with beef it's no different," he said.

"When you cook that steak, all that fat will melt away, and that's what gives you that buttery taste to the meat and gives you a really good texture — and the best bite of steak you'll have in your life."

Chef takes note

Jonathan Thauberger, executive chef and partner at Crave Kitchen and Wine Bar in Regina, had never had Wagyu crossed with Holstein beef before he tried Crosbie's snow beef.

"When we came across the Holsteins [cross], it was really interesting. The strip loin is about twice the size of an Angus-Wagyu cross. It's very big, very long and pretty incredible," Thauberger said.

"To my palate, I find it almost tastes a little bit more beefy. It's rich. It's got a little bit more flavour. It's very delicious."

© Laura Sciarpelletti/CBC Jonathan Thauberger, executive chef and partner at Crave Kitchen and Wine Bar in Regina, preparing snow beef carpaccio.

Thauberger uses every part of snow beef that comes through his restaurant's kitchen doors when he orders it. Snow beef is sometimes offered as a butcher's cut and a carpaccio on the menu, among other items. He even makes pemmican — whipped snow beef fat with snow beef jerky and dried fruit.

He said his customers particularly appreciate hearing the story of where the snow beef comes from.

"You're talking about a local farmer who's doing this boutique product. You can come here on any particular day and have a different cut from this animal and taste how it's different from cut to cut, animal to animal, even. It's a great story."

© Laura Sciarpelletti/CBC The rich marbling of snow beef can be seen in Crave's carpaccio.

Consumers looking to feel connected to farms

Jeff Nonay and his wife run a mixed dairy farm in Sturgeon County, Alta. They produce dairy, cheese, potatoes and beef — Wagyu-cross beef, to be exact. Like Crosbie, Nonay crosses the Wagyu genetics with Holstein genetics.

Nonay, who's been marketing his product for four years, said that while he cannot produce on a large scale, the demand and interest are there.

"When you think about Alberta and you think about beef, being able to brand something off a specific farm and consistently produce quality that becomes recognized is a pretty interesting feat," he said.

"It tells you quite a bit about what consumers want and the connection they have directly to the farm, adding value, adding to the experience."

© Amara Dirks Photography Jeff Nonay and family with their Wagyu-crosses and Holstein cows at their mixed dairy farm in Sturgeon County, Alta.

Nonay said the Wagyu-cross market is a niche one, so there is potential for it to grow exponentially.

Ryder Lee, CEO of the Saskatchewan Cattlemen's Association, said products such as snow beef help to connect consumers with what producers are doing in genetics.

"I think that's something that all cattle producers would like to do but aren't always able to do," Lee said.

His father experimented with genetics in the 1970s, bringing semen from the United States to crossbreed his herd with.

"They were actually called exotic breeds, and they are now part of the mainstream in Canada."

Lee said things have since changed due to producers' ability to communicate their breeding stories with the media and consumers.

"I think the mainstream industry is now just trying to make sure that people know the story of Canada — know the story about cattle on the land and the good that we provide for the habitat, for the environment and for your diet."

© Laura Sciarpelletti/CBC A snow beef steak, left, and a regular steak, right.

Snow beef sales increasing

Prairie Meats in Saskatoon is the latest business to partner with Crosbie and sell packaged snow beef cuts. CEO Casey Collins said that Saskatchewan residents are keen to support local farmers when they're at the butcher shop.

"This allows them to have a high-end dining experience but also understand where it came from and stay within 50 miles of where they live."

© Radio-Canada Prairie Meats in Saskatoon carries Ian Crosbie's Saskatchewan Snow Beef.

Benbie Holsteins markets snow beef exclusively in Saskatchewan. Ian Crosbie, the owner, said it is difficult for small farms and niche brands to market their product nationally due to federal plant restrictions.

"That makes it difficult for small niche beef brands to grow."

But he is hopeful.

Benbie Holsteins produced 6,800 kilograms of beef this year, and Crosbie said he hopes to double that by 2022.

Collins said the market has changed over the years: People's diets are different due to the amount of protein they are being told to consume, and their palates are changing.

"In 2019, consumption of beef per capita amounted to around 27.4 kilograms in Canada," according to Statista, a market and consumer research company based in Germany. "This figure is forecast to decrease to 26.7 kilograms in 2021. This expected decrease follows a long-term downward trend: in the year 1980, consumption per capita was 38.8 kilograms."

"The trend is that they're not eating red meat maybe as often as they used to, but when they do, they want to make sure it's a great experience," Collins said.

"And the fact is that even producers in general are having to pay more focus to how they raise their animals, how they grade out, how the quality is. And Ian is doing an excellent job of that."

COVID-19 shuts down half of Canada’s beef supply A COVID-19 outbreak in a Cargill plant at High River, Alberta has shut down almost half of Canada’s beef supply, leaving many farmers with no place to sell their cattle. Nearly all beef produced in Canada is processed by three high-volume, high-throughput meat packing plants: Cargill’s High River facility, the JBS plant in Brooks, Alberta and the smaller Cargill plant in Guelph, Ontario. The two Alberta plants have 85% of Canada’s beef slaughter capacity and both are now grappling with COVID-19 outbreaks. While this choke point gives US-based Cargill and Brazilian JBS tremendous power over both cattle prices paid to farmers and the grocery store beef prices paid by consumers, the pandemic outbreaks show it is also one of the weakest links in Canada’s food system. This week a major COVID-19 outbreak in Cargill’s Alberta plant and a smaller outbreak at the JBS plant have required slow-downs at the JBS plant and a shut-down of the Cargill facility to protect the health of plant workers and the wider community. This also has a domino effect through the food system. Demand for cattle has collapsed, and if supplies dwindle, retail beef prices will likely rise. Without intervention, the price difference between the price of cattle and grocery store beef will end up harming both farmers and consumers while enhancing the already large profits of JBS and Cargill. “Excessive concentration of ownership and centralization of beef processing, supported and encouraged by our federal and provincial governments, has now put the health of workers, the beef supply and the livelihoods of thousands of farmers in jeopardy,” said Iain Aitken, National Farmers Union (NFU) member and Manitoba beef producer. “We extend our heartfelt condolences to the loved ones of the Cargill worker who lost her life to COVID 19.” “Farmers need emergency support so we can take care of our livestock until the plants ramp up again. Health and safety come first, but you can’t tell the cows to stop eating and growing until the crisis is over,” said Ian Robson, Deleau Manitoba mixed farmer and NFU Board member. “We need a price floor to make sure that Cargill and JBS don’t take advantage of this crisis to reduce prices. Today’s government must not make the same kind of mistakes as during the BSE Mad Cow crisis when the giant packers pocketed support program money and put hundreds of family farms out of business.” The NFU also urges emergency support to lay the groundwork for a more resilient and fair meat sector in Canada. “The NFU’s vision is for a food policy based on food sovereignty,” said Tim Dowling, grassfed beef producer from the Kingston, Ontario area. “Our food system would then support more family farmers providing more food for more Canadians by focussing on building up our capacity to serve local and regional markets across the country.” In 2008 the NFU published a comprehensive study of Canada’s cattle industry, analysing the development meat packing companies’ concentration, the impacts on cattle prices for farmers, and offering solutions that would reorient the system towards a more resilient beef sector. Its recommendations are more valid than ever today. “The COVID-19 crisis is a wake-up call and an opportunity to rebuild our economy in ways that work for people, and which have the resilience to manage the crisis conditions that will undoubtedly occur in the future,” concluded Aitken. For the complete NFU cattle report, please visit The Farm Crisis and the Cattle Sector: Toward a New Analysis and New Solutions – 30 – PDF Concentration of meat packing makes Canada’s food system vulnerable  April 22, 2020 Meat packing concentration makes Canada’s food system vulnerable The National Farmers Union (NFU) offers heartfelt condolences to family and friends of the Cargill beef packing plant worker who lost her life to COVID-19 on April 20. The COVID-19 pandemic is revealing many vulnerabilities in Canada’s food system. The excessive concentration of ownership and centralization of beef processing has put the health of workers, the beef supply and the livelihoods of thousands of farmers in jeopardy. As of April 21, Cargill is finally idling its plant at High River, Alberta after one death, at least 358 cases ofCOVID-19 among workers and about 150 more confirmed cases related to the Cargill plant through family and community spread. There is also a COVID-19 outbreak at the JBS meatpacking plant in Brooks, Alberta area, where 67 people have tested positive. Cargill’s Alberta plant normally slaughters and processes 4,500 head of cattle per day, which is nearly half of Canada’s total beef processing capacity. The JBS Brook’s facility’s daily beef slaughter capacity is 4,200 head per day The Cargill beef plant in Guelph, Ontario has a slaughter capacity of 1,500 head per day. Nearly all of the beef sold in Canadian grocery stores and exported from Canada comes from these three high-volume, high-throughput meat packing plants. Cargill’s High River facility, the JBS plant in Brooks, Alberta and the Cargill plant in Guelph, Ontario together process over 95% of the beef in Canada, as well as nearly all of Canada’s $3 billion worth of beef exports. Cargill, with headquarters in the USA, is the world’s largest private company. In 2018 the family members that control Cargill Inc. got $643 million in the company’s the biggest payout since 2010, according to Bloomberg. JBS is a Brazilian corporation and the world’s largest meat company. Its net profit in 2018 was nearly $US 50 billion, a 10% increase over the previous year. These two foreign-owned companies completely dominate Canada’s beef sector. Canada has just 17 other federally licenced beef slaughter facilities, all small and many serving specialized markets. The provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia have no federally licenced abattoirs for beef. Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan each have one facility; BC and Manitoba each have just two, all of them are small. There are also provincially licenced abattoirs, which in 2019 slaughtered a total of 153,859 head of cattle, the equivalent of 15 days of output from the threelargest federally inspected plants. JBS and Cargill control the flow of beef through Canada’s food system and to export markets. Their three processing plants form a choke point that gives them undue influence over the price of cattle paid to farmers and the price of beef paid by consumers in the grocery store. While this choke point gives Cargill and JBS tremendous power, it is also one of the weakest links in Canada’s food system. Slow-downs and shut-downs necessary to protect the health of plant workers also have a domino effect on cattle producers. Farmers expecting to sell their livestock find demand has collapsed. Prices are falling and farmers are faced with selling well below the cost of production or continuing to feed and care for cattle while waiting for an opportunity to sell. Meanwhile if grocery store supplies dwindle, retail beef prices will likely rise, especially if JBS and Cargill raise their wholesale prices. The price difference between what farmers are paid and what consumers pay for their meat will be captured by the big retailers and/or JBS and Cargill, to enhance these companies’ already large profits. Health and safety for workers and the public must come first. The failure of Cargill and JBS to implement changes to permit safe operations during the pandemic is creating a larger crisis in the food system in addition to its health impacts. Farmers now require emergency support to allow them to continue feeding cattle that no longer have a market.  Price floors must be put in place to ensure Cargill and JBS do not take advantage of this crisis to reduce prices they or their captive feedlot suppliers payfor cattle. The lessons of the BSE crisis must be applied to ensure that the giant packers do not take all the value of government support programs for themselves. Any emergency support for farmers and ranchers coping with the precipitous drop in demand must meet the needs of cow-calf producers, and independent feedlots and backgrounders. The NFU also urges emergency support be designed to lay the groundwork for a more resilient and fair meat sector in Canada. In 1988 there were 119 federally inspected beef packing plants in Canada, all were 100% Canadian owned. For the past three decades, Canadian governments have measured success in agriculture by export volumes. The measuring stick is Canada’s share of global exports – not the quality and value of food being produced for Canadians, the livelihoods of Canadian farmers, nor the prosperity of rural communities. The pursuit of maximum exports has resulted in a corporate beef sector that extracts all it can from workers, farmers, tax-payers, consumers and agricultural ecosystems. The National Farmers Union advocates for a food sovereignty-based food policy for Canada that would promote more high-quality food produced by Canadian ranchers and farmers on the tables of families across the country. A key strategy to achieve this would be developing domestic markets and localized distribution systems with direct, fair and transparent distribution chains. In 2008 the NFU published a comprehensive study of Canada cattle industry, analysing the development meat packing companies’ concentration, the impacts on cattle prices for farmers, and offering solutions that would reorient the system towards a more resilient beef sector. Its recommendations include:  Create and implement a national meat strategy to better serve the economic, nutritional, social, community development, food production, and environmental goals of Canadians in all regions.  Shift the location, ownership, and conduct of our beef packing plants to reduce its geographic concentration (nearly all capacity is currently in southern Alberta) and ownership concentration, so that our packing plants are spread across the nation, focused on serving local and regional markets, under diversified ownership and providing meat of the highest possible nutrition and safety.  Ban captive supply – feedlots owned or controlled by JBS and Cargill which they use to depress prices paid to producers.  Tailor food safety regulations to encourage local abattoirs to develop Canadian markets for organic beef, grass-finished beef, bison, and other specialty livestock and that create high-value deli meats and processed foods.  Recognize that dispersed local abattoirs with shorter supply chains are also key to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from our meat production system. These recommendations are more valid than ever today. The COVID-19 crisis is a wake-up call and an opportunity to rebuild our economy in ways that work for people, and which have the resilience to manage the crisis conditions that will undoubtedly occur in the future. For the complete NFU cattle report, please visit The Farm Crisis and the Cattle Sector: Toward a New Analysis and New Solutions SEE  https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=CARGILL https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=BEEF https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=MEAT+PACKING https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=COVID19 https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=JBS https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=ALBERTA https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=NFU https://plawiuk.blogspot.com/search?q=GROCERY