Supermarket Perimeter - February 2025 - 10

A LOOK
BACK,
A LOOK
FORWARD
Insights from the
NCBA's Colin Woodall
2024 WAS " QUITE A YEAR FOR THE BEEF INDUSTRY, " said Colin
Woodall, CEO of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association.
Demand remains strong and cattle producers remain optimistic,
Woodall said, just one of many messages he delivered in his annual
2024 Wrap-Up. Here are some excerpts:
" Cattle markets are good, and consumers still want our beef.
We must be proactive in looking at ways to improve ourselves and
our operations. As a contractor to the national Beef Checkoff,
NCBA has a robust scientific affairs department that leads
our research efforts in developing industry improvement. Preharvest
beef safety is one area where our goal is to facilitate and
communicate solution-based strategies to improve beef safety
through things such as pathogen mitigation.
Mitigation strategies are those actions we can take in the cattle
production system that will reduce the number of pathogens that
are carried into the beef supply. One of the best things we can do to
improve the safety of our product is to prevent the vectors from ever
entering our system from the outside.
The next priority area is human nutrition research where our goal is
to understand beef's role in a healthy diet to nourish and optimize
Americans' health at every life stage. Our team of nutrition
scientists and Registered Dieticians works to manage original
scientific research that evaluates beef's role in optimal human health
and the prevention of chronic disease.
This research focuses on human growth and development, metabolic
health such as heart disease, muscle health, and how beef fits into
a balanced diet. This research is currently being considered in the
10 - FEBRUARY 2025
development of the 2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Taking
this knowledge and educating the scientific community is key to
getting others to promote beef's role in a healthy diet, to improve
scientific methods, and to enable us to partner with leading scientific
organizations and individuals to further our credibility.
Product quality research utilizes science to drive understanding of,
and improvement in, product quality and consistency. Over the
years, the quality of our beef has improved, and this research area
aims at continually improving industry practices or actions that
impact the consistency of beef flavor, tenderness, juiciness, color,
and shelf life, and the yield of total red meat from each carcass.
This research area also provides technical services to the industry.
Our team of meat scientists share our knowledge of beef muscles
and cuts, fabrication methods, nomenclature, and more with many
of you and others in the beef supply chain. Identification and
development of the popular flat iron steak is a great example of our
product quality research.
The final research priority area is sustainability. This research aims
to advance the field of beef sustainability research, benchmark
industry sustainability, and identify opportunities for improvement
while maintaining a holistic focus on the three pillars of sustainability.
The first of those three pillars is the work we do on environmental
research which looks at greenhouse gas emissions, nutrient cycling,
ecosystem services, and water quality.
Economic research is the second pillar and it evaluates the
importance of keeping beef cattle operations in business while
evaluating beef's role in driving local and national economies. The
third pillar evaluates the social sustainability of cattle producers and
their impact on personal, social, and community dynamics. "
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Supermarket Perimeter - February 2025

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