|
The beef process, from farm to fork
November 27, 1997
No. 15 is the prized bull on the Settje Ranch in Leigh, Nebraska
Web posted at: 10:43 p.m. EST (0343 GMT)From Correspondent Jeff Flock
LEIGH, Nebraska (CNN) -- Beef production is the biggest part of the U.S. food industry, which in turn is the largest segment of the American economy. Beef processors have also taken a lot of heat recently when it comes to food safety.
So just how does beef go from the farm to the fork?
The story starts with artificial insemination. At farms and ranches, such as the Settje Ranch in Leigh, Nebraska, insemination makes it possible for one prize bull to breed with the best of the heifers.
CNN's Jeff Flock reports
3 min., 2 sec. VXtreme streaming video
"It's definitely turned into a science," says rancher Dean Settje.
Once pregnant, the heifers start calving in January. About half of the calves will be used as breeding stock. The other half will be sent to slaughter -- but not before they're fattened up.
Cows eat shell corn (left) and gluten at the Knobbe Feed Yards in West Point, Nebraska First, they eat grass or corn stalks on the ranch to gain their first few hundred pounds. Then, they graze on pasture land until they get in the range of 700 to 800 pounds.
At that point, they will be shipped to a feed yard, where they will be fed a diet of shell corn and gluten. They'll stay four months and gain another 400 pounds.
The food conversion factor for cattle is about 7 to 1; that is, for every seven pounds of feed they eat, they'll gain a pound.
After they are fattened up, the cows take a walk to what is euphemistically called processing -- which includes stunning the animal, killing it, taking the hide off, eviscerating it and splitting it in half.
Cows walk through holding pens to the processing area Most slaughterhouses won't let cameras in to witness what goes on during processing. But the Excel Plant in Schulyer, Nebraska, opened its doors to CNN, to provide a sense of what takes place.
Each morning, workers clean and disinfect what's called the "kill floor." Federal inspectors check it every day, taking samples to test for bacteria.
After the killing process, the sides of beef are pasteurized with steam, then put in a cooler for 48 hours. USDA graders rate the meat -- either prime, choice or select -- and stamp it with the familiar purple-blue dye.
Then the cutting starts. After using an air gun to loosen fat and make trimming easier, the beef is cut up into the chuck, rib, loin, round and other big parts. Then, it is vacuum packed and boxed for shipping, perhaps to your local grocery store.
There, the packages are opened up and cut into the smaller steaks, roasts and the rest, which are sealed in those plastic packages familiar in the meat department of your local grocer.
From breeding to eating takes about a year and a half.
Related stories:
- USDA, FDA cast new bid for food recall power - August 29, 1997
- Extra labor going into holiday burgers after E. coli scare - August 30, 1997
- Are humans endangered if cattle dine on chicken manure? - August 23, 1997
- Contaminations raise the question: Is food safe? - August 20, 1997
Related sites:
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
- U.S. Department of Agriculture
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Home Page
- Safe Tables Our Priority (STOP) - a non-profit organization devoted to victim assistance, public education, and policy advocacy for safe food and public health
- FDA Center for Food Safety & Applied Nutrition
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.
|
Sound off on our message boards You said it... |
|
© 1997 Cable News Network, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.