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OPINION
Meat Industry Responds
To Consumer Needs
The U.S. meat industry is at a significant crossroads, where
meat safety and quality coalesce as top priorities for the indus
try. The industry’s recognition in the late ’Bos and the ’9os of
the growing evidence linking good health to smart nutrition
brought leaner, trimmer meats to the meat counters. New pack
aging and the introduction of ready-to-eat meat dinners and
products provided consumers with the convenience and quality
they demanded. At the same time, concerns about emerging
pathogenic bacteria, particularly a virulent strain of Escherichi
a coli (or E. coli 0157.H7 ), and an outdated inspection program
directed industry’s attention to further improve the safety of its
products.
According to the executive summary of the National Meat
Board’s Blue Ribbon Task Force the crossroads facing the
meat industry mirrors that of the government, as it moves to
bring better science and safety control measures to the federal
meat inspection program. The entire industry has committed to
studying and developing measures that will reduce the intro
duction and growth of harmful pathogens that may be found in
meat. New programs, techniques, and products designed to im
prove meat safety have been studied by companies, govern
ment agencies, and university researchers. Much data has been
collected that provides profiles of meat and meat cuts and of
fers a glimpse of microbiological trends in the industry.
While the overall goal is to always provide the safest, clean
est, and most wholesome meat possible to consumers, the in
dustry recognizes that meat surfaces like poultry, seafood,
and fresh produce contain naturally occurring bacteria,
some of which can be harmful if not properly controlled. By
taking stringent measures to prevent and control pathogenic
bacteria from the farm through the meat plant and to the retail
establishment and the consumer’s home, the industry can make
available the safest product possible.
Significant changes in consumer food buying and purchas
ing trends have also resulted in new food safety challenges.
Consumers rely heavily on convenient, ready-to-eat meat pro
ducts that require little preparation. They spend more of their
food dollars at restaurants than ever before. They expect a safe,
nearly risk-free product. At the same time, fewer consumers
know proper handling and cooking requirements for meats.
Most bacteria are destroyed by proper cooking. While educat
ing consumers about their role in preventing food-borne illness
will continue to be a priority, the meat industry understands
that it is its responsibility to market safe products.
New technologies such as irradiation pasteurization, carcass
antibacterial rinses, and sprays, and rapid microbial tests offer
exciting possibilities for identifying, controlling, and possibly
eliminating bacteria that could cause food-bom illness. The
Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HAACP) system
of food production is a common-sense approach to monitoring
and verifying that the food production system is forking and
producing the safest food possible. These and other new tech
niques and processes will result in improved public health pro
tection.
Farm Calendar
Keystone Swiss Classic Brown
Swiss Sale, Lebanon Fair
grounds, 11 a.m.
Maryland State Fair, Timonium.
thru Sept IS.
West Virginia State Holstein Sale,
Marshall County Fairgrounds,
Moundsville, W.Va.
Susquehanna County 4-H Lives
tock Sale, Harford Fairgrounds,
1 p.m.
Multicounty Livestock Tour,
Northr tberland Cr
Nebraska City, Neb., through
Aug. 30.
Indiana County Fair, Indiana, thru
West End Fair, Gilbert, thru Sept
4.
/SB!' 1 I
Dairy Day at the New York State
Fair, Syracuse, fair runs thru
Wattsburg/Erie County Fair,
Wattsburg, thru Sept. 3.
Allentown Fair, Allentown, thru
Sept. 4.
Big Knob Grange Fair, Rochester,
thru Sept S.
Greene-Dreher Sterling Fair,
(Turn Ip Pag* A3l)
Farm Forum
Editor,
What happened to the Erst farm
forum? I haven’t heard anymore
about it. The last I read they were
going to make professionals out of
the PA farmers. That’s good, but
may I make a suggestion, set up a
committee of honest, hard work;
To Account
For Seeding
Variation
According to a University of
Wisconsin study, the same seeder
setting on a planter gave a large
variation in the amount of seed
used per acre in an alfalfa seeding
trail.
The amount of seed used per
acre in the study varied from a low
of 13.8 pounds per acre to a high of
20.8 pounds per acre.
Several factors contributed to
the difference in the study. First
was the size of the seed. A second
factor was whether the seed was
coated or not A third factor was
the number of seeds per pound of
seed.
It is a general rule of thumb that
a pound of alfalfa seed contains
220.000 seeds. In the Wisconsin
study that number varied from a
low of 196,000 to a high of
224.000 seeds per pound of seed.
Dr. Marvin Hall, Penn State
Agronomist considers 7 5 to 90
alfalfa seeds per square foot to be
an ideal seeding. In the Wisconsin
study, rates varied from a low of 70
seeds to a high of 105 seeds per
square.
Calibrate your seeders now to
insure you receive the stand and
productivity you want.
To Calibrate
Seeders
Before seeding any forages or
small grain crops this fall, calibra-.
tion of the seeder may save you
money, according to Robert
Anderson, extension agronomy
agent
Knowing the ideal seeding rate
for a crop is only half the battle.
Knowing how much seed is being
applied by the seeder is another
important step in getting the opti
mum number of plants growing
per acre.
A study in Wisconsin found that
most farmers knew how much seed
was suggested per acre, but few
knew exactly how much was being
applied until the job was done.
Then they compared the amount of
seed used and the acres planted.
Seed calibration is fairly easy
and may help to insure a proper
seeding rate. Each time a variety of
seed is changed. Dr. Marvin Hall,
Penn State Agronomist, suggests
recalibration of the seeder using
the following method.
Spread a tarp on the ground and
ing farmers and have them go
from farm to farm all across the
state with petitions asking the far
mers opinion and actually report it
back to the forum. Ask all the
important questions so as not to
confuse the issues and label each
(Turn t» Page A3l)
ran the seeder over it Then select
several sites on the tarp and count
the number of seeds in a one square
foot area. If you count between 75
and 90 seeds in each square foot
area, you are seeding at an ideal
rate for alfalfa.
To Analyze
Production Data
When was the last time you sat
down and analyze production data
from your farm?
Farmers receive a lot of produc
tion information from settlement
sheets or with check payments.
You need to ask yourself, where do
I stand or rank with my fellow pro
ducers? Are you in the U>p 10 per
cent? The bottom third or in the
middle?
If you are not in the top 10 per
cent, you need to start analyzing
why and take steps to become a top
10 percent producer.
Agriculture is still a very highly
competitive industry. As a result.
A
"""■ "■" v ■■■■■■ / /'l/'l/i/ui
BY IAWRtNCE W. AUHOUSE
Ts*
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WHAT’S ON THE MENU?
August 28,1994
WHAT’S ON THE MENU?
August 28, 1994
Background Scripture:
Deuteronomy 28
Devotional Reading:
Deuteronomy 29; 10-18 a
There are some valuable les
sons in Deuteronomy 28, but be
forewarned: it is a pre-Christian
document and its picture of God is
substantially different from the
one presented in the New Testa
ment.
1 shouldn’t bother to make that
observation were it not for the ten
dency of some Christians to lift
from the Old Testament teachings
and ideas that are incompatible
with Christian understanding.
This is not to denigrate Deuteron
omy, but to put it in perspective
as Jesus did.
The basic idea of this chapter is
that obeying God’s command
ments brings blessings and dis
obeying brings curses. “And all
these blessings shall come upon
you and overtake you if you obey
the voice of the Lord your God”
(28:2). “But if you will not obey
the voice of the Lord your God or
be careful to do all His command
ments and His statutes which I
command you this day, then all
these curses shall come upon you
and overtake you” (28:15).
IN PERSPECTIVE
Generally, this is true: obeying
God usually brings blessings
while disobeying him usually
brings troubles. This is the moti
vation to which Moses appealed:
it will pay to do good and it will
cost you to disobey God. But we
have to understand that in this
chapter Moses is speaking poeti
cally instead of as a systematic
thinker. He is overstating his case
and that is all right as long as you
know that and keep it in mind.
If you try to make a legalistic
principle out of it, however, it will
not work, because all of us have
been around long enough to know
that doing right sometimes brings
sorrow the crucifixion of Jesus
and doing wrong is sometimes
rewarded, at least in the short run.
Note that all of the blessings
and curses are primarily material
you have many farmers constantly
looking for better, more efficient
and profitable wayi to produce.
This means change is always with
us. As a result, farmers need to be
constantly studying, participating
in educational meetings and incor
porating and managing change in
their operation.
So the next time you receive
your milk check or contract settle
ment, calculate your various pro
duction efficiencies and compare
to an industry or company datab
ase. Find out were you rank. If
your company or cooperative does
not have a company database on its
farmers, you may want to encour
age them to develop one.
With today’s computer technol
ogy it would be easy to generate a
database that will help identify
your farm’s strengths and
weaknesses.
Feather Prof s Footnote: “Los
ers let it happen. Winners make it
happen.”
in nature: “Blessed shall be the
fruit of your body, and the fruit of
your ground, and the fruit of your
beasts, the increase of your cattle,
and the young of your flock”
(28:4). “Cursed... shall you be in
the field. Cursed shall you be in
your basket and your kneading
trough. Cursed shall be the fruit of
your body, and the fruit of your
ground...” (28:18). There is no
thing said about spiritual blessings
and curses. That was a perspective
still to come.
A GREATER LONG RUN
Why? Because they had no offi
cial belief in life after death and
there was no hereafter. And be
cause there was no hereafter the
only way a person could be re
warded or punished was in the
here and now with material well
being. With the advent of a belief
in a life after death there was pro
vided a greater “long run” in
which to receive cither blessings
or curses and in a spiritual rather
than material realm.
Another point of contrast is in
the depiction of God and His reac
tion to the consequences of human
sin; “And as the Lord took delight
in doing you good and multiplying
you, so the Lord will take delight
in bringing ruin upon you and des
troying you” (28:63). The God of
the New Testament (as well as the
God depicted by other writers of
the Old Testament: Hosea, Isaiah,
Jeremiah, etc.) is not one who
would “delight” in destroying his
disobedient children.
Nevertheless, this chapter is re
levant for us today in that it teach
es us that our well-being is de
pendent upon the choices we
make and to realize that (hose
choices have consequences, quite
apart from the issue of God’s for
giveness. For example: if we take
someone’s life and then seek
God’s forgiveness, it 'Will not
bring that person back to life. For
giveness usually does not change
consequences in the short-run, on
ly the long-run.
Robert Louis Stevenson once
said, “Everybody soon or late sits
down to a banquet of consequen
ces.” Just remember, what’s on
the menu is what you put there.
Lancaster Farming
Established 1055
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E. Main St.
Ephrata, PA 17522
by
Lancaster Farming, Inc.
A SMnmm BMiprim
Robert G. Campbell General Manager
Evens a Newwwnger Managing Edtor
Copyright 'H4 by Unoeelar Farming