NSF INTERNATIONAL FOCUSES ON CANADIAN FOOD INDUSTRY WITH NEW WEBSITE FOR SERVICES IN CANADA

The average retail price for choice beef in the first quarter was about $7.60 a pound, 0.6% lower than a year earlier but up 18% from 2021, Agriculture Department data show.

In Tyson's beef business, its biggest unit by sales, adjusted operating margins dwindled to 2.7% in the quarter that ended on Dec. 31 from 19.1% the previous year. The company said costs to buy live cattle soared about $530 million.

Global public health organization showcases services for Canada’s growing and fast-changing food industry

Cargill does not need to operate plants for as many hours as it did in 2020 because of tighter supplies and improving staffing levels, said Hans Kabat, leader of Cargill's North American protein unit.

NSF International in Canada recently launched a new website - www.nsfcanada.ca - to give Canada’s growing and complex food and beverage industry easy access to the global public health organization’s expertise and services in Canada. The website combines information on the depth, experience and capabilities of the NSF International Canadian office with access to NSF International’s global services dedicated to food safety and quality.

The amount of money meatpackers earn buying cattle and converting them into meat fell below $40 per head of cattle in April, after topping $700 per head in May 2020, analysts at HedgersEdge.com said. Recently the margins were about $117 per head.

Kooima said he declined packers' attempts in April to buy high-quality cattle in Iowa's cash market for $182 per hundredweight and $183 before ultimately scoring a bid for his target price: $185.

Evolving regulations across countries and increasing complexities associated with a globalized food supply network present challenges for NSF International clients in Canada and around the world. The new Canadian website offers expertise and services to help companies navigate these challenges, including certification and auditing, consulting, technical services, training and education, food and label compliance, packaging, and product and process development.

Strong consumer demand for beef so far is helping boost competition for cattle. Demand generally increases as the weather warms up and grilling season begins.

NSF International’s Canadian website provides information on the following services:

Certification & auditing: Third-party food safety audits and certifications, which are integral components of supplier selection and regulatory compliance. Accurate audits are the first step toward successful verification of a company’s food safety system, providing improved brand protection and customer confidence. Certifications and audits are available for animal and produce in the agriculture industry, GFSI certification and management system registration.

"Three years ago, the first bid we got, we took it," said Todd Drake, another producer who feeds several thousand cattle. "Today, they bid me $178 on a Tuesday, and it's like, 'Yeah we're going to wait.'"

Live cattle futures prices reached a record 177.700 cents per pound for the front-month contract on April 13, before easing in May. The peak was up 26% from a year earlier and 118% from April 2020.

Consulting: A full-service team approach providing technical resources, expertise and insight for a wide range of food safety and quality services. NSF International provides finished product inspection testing for food, packaging and non-food testing for rapid analysis and insight to protect the brand, technical support services from on-site temporary or permanent technical staffing placements, and various types of consulting.

Technical services: A one-stop solution for food product compliance and formulation, from concept to finished product, including food and label compliance, packaging, product and process development, and shelf-life and product evaluation.

Training and education: Training for the global food and beverage industry across the supply chain as an https://www.beaconmetals.com

Goldman Sachs estimates Tyson's beef margins were 3% in the next quarter, down from 12.7% a year earlier, and will average less than 2% in 2024 and 2025. Tyson declined to comment before it reports earnings on Monday.

"Packers are scrambling," said Derrell Peel, Oklahoma State University agricultural economist.

Big profits for meatpackers during the pandemic and soaring beef prices fueled concerns in the Biden administration about consolidation and profiteering in the sector.

Ranchers received about 39 cents of every dollar a consumer spent on beef in 2022, compared to more than 60 cents 50 years earlier, according to the White House.

In 2023, "the cattle feeder can negotiate more of the consumer dollar," said Brett Gottsch, managing partner Gottsch Cattle Co, which raises cattle in Nebraska.

Gottsch remains concerned about a lack of competition among meatpackers, though others said surging cattle prices show the market works.

Pete Bonds, a Texas-based feeder, said he could not believe prices are so high. "I'm just tickled to death," he said.

Only four companies - Cargill, Tyson, JBS and National Beef Packing Company - slaughter about 85% of grainfattened cattle that are made into steaks, roasts and other cuts. The companies say supply and demand determine cattle and beef prices.

The Agriculture Department said it will continue monitoring the sector, as the government awards $1 billion to smaller-sized meat processors to expand slaughtering capacity.

INTERNATIONAL MEAT SECRETARIAT APPLAUDS REAFFIRMATION OF LIVESTOCK’S CRITICAL ROLE IN SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS

The International Meat Secretariat (IMS) has welcomed a new report issued by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations that reaffirms livestock’s critical role in healthy diets and sustainable food systems and will make significant contributions to global understanding of the benefits of meat production and consumption.

The FAO report (Contribution of terrestrial animal source food to healthy diets for improved nutrition and health outcomes) concludes that, within appropriate dietary patterns, meat and other food produced from land-based animals can make vital contributions to meeting Sustainable Development Goals’ nutrition targets, including to reduce stunting, wasting and overweight among children; improve birth weight; reduce anemia in women of reproductive age; and reduce obesity and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in adults.

INTERNATIONAL MEAT SECRETARIAT (IMS) PRESIDENT GUILLAUME ROUÉ APPLAUDED THE REPORT, COMMENTING:

“FAO’s conclusions reaffirm that meat plays an essential role in positive health outcomes and point to the urgent need for further research on specific populations’ nutrient needs, as well as the need to accelerate adoption of climate-smart livestock production.

“The highest standard evidence, including FAO’s analysis, must inform global and country-level recommendations on meat production and consumption, to harness meat’s benefits for human health and the environment.

“The report is the first in a series mandated by the FAO Committee on Agriculture (COAG) which directed in 2020 that FAO produce a “comprehensive, science and evidence-based global assessment of the contribution of livestock to food security, sustainable agrifood systems, nutrition and healthy diets.”

THE FAO REPORT IS AVAILABLE HERE.

About the International Meat Secretariat (IMS)

IMS represents the global meat and livestock sector as a vital motor of growth and prosperity to meet the future demands for sustainable, high-quality, nutritious and safe animal protein. The IMS is a non-profit organization that brings together livestock producer associations, national and regional meat associations, meat exporter associations, meat processing companies, government, and corporate partners from around the world representing more than 75% of the global production of cattle, pig, and sheep meat.

NORTH AMERICAN MEAT INSTITUTE: PRIME ACT IS A FOOD SAFETY RISK

The North American Meat Institute (Meat Institute) has announced its opposition to the Processing Revival and Intrastate Meat Exemption Act, or the PRIME Act, for the risk it poses to food safety.

“American consumers rely on rigorous USDA inspection to ensure the safety and quality of their meat and poultry,” said Meat Institute President and CEO Julie Anna Potts. “Allowing meat to enter commerce without inspection – and without alerting consumers they are buying uninspected meat -- jeopardizes food safety and will undermine consumer confidence in all meat products.”

The PRIME Act was reintroduced in the U.S. House by Representatives Thomas Massie (R- Ky.) and Chellie Pingree (D-Maine). U.S. Senators Angus King (I-Maine) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) have introduced the same bill in the Senate.

The PRIME Act would amend the Federal Meat Inspection Act to allow custom slaughter facilities to sell uninspected meat directly to consumers, to restaurants and food service, and at retail.

Under The Federal Meat Inspection Act, custom slaughter facilities harvest livestock for the personal use of the owner of the animal. The food produced may not enter commerce. There is no continuous inspection and no veterinarian required to assess the health of the livestock.

Federally inspected facilities, and state inspected facilities with cooperative agreements with USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), have inspectors continuously conducting oversight of operations to ensure the safety and quality of meat and poultry and the health and wellness of the livestock.

Should a problem occur, products bearing the mark of USDA inspection can be traced to protect consumers.

“It is important for the American economy and the entire meat value chain that the safety of our meat and poultry is never taken for granted. The meat and poultry industry, and the taxpayer, has invested billions of dollars in food safety protections, research and infrastructure to ensure we have the safest meat in the world,” said Potts. “While this bill may be well intentioned, it poses especially unnecessary risks given the many resources available to help new and small facilities gain inspection from FSIS.”

Those resources include more than $1 billion in federal technical assistance and financial assistance in the following USDA administered programs:

• Meat and Poultry Inspection Readiness Grants:

• Meat and Poultry Processing Capacity - Technical Assistance Program

• Meat and Poultry Processing Expansion Program

MEAT AND POULTRY PROCESSING EXPANSION PROGRAM BACKGROUND:

• There are more than 6,500 federally inspected facilities throughout the United States.

• There were 946 plants slaughtering under federal inspection on January 1, 2023

Legend In The North American Meat Industry Passes Away

The first Canadian ever inducted into the North American Meat Institute Hall of Fame passed away on April 22, 2023 leaving a legacy that will be remembered for years to come.

Ralph Cator founded Cardinal Meat Specialists in 1966 after learning the butcher trade in his father’s retail butcher shop in Toronto. In 25 years at the helm, Cator turned Cardinal into one of this country’s leading suppliers of burgers, ribs and other products to restaurants, grocery retailers and the wholesale market.

Cator helped make Cardinal an industry leader known for its innovations. Among his many accomplishments, Cator installed Canada’s first cryogenic freezer for burgers. In 1986, Cardinal became the first company in the world to use the Tenderform patty forming equipment in food processing that produced a burger that was less processed and that has now become the industry standard.

In 1992, Cator was the first Canadian to ever serve as President of the North American Meat Processors (NAMP). A few years later, he was given the NAMP Angus Award, its most prestigious honour.

“My father had many expressions he used to guide his life,” says Brent Cator, Ralph’s son who is now President and CEO of Cardinal. He used to say, “no one of us is as smart as all of us”. And another I loved, “without a plan, any road will get you there. You just may not like where you end up.”

After he retired from Cardinal, Cator went back to school to pursue his passion for photography and became an accredited photographer. Ralph Cator was 87 and died after a short illness.

For more information, visit www.cardinalmeats.com

About Cardinal Meat Specialists

Cardinal Meat Specialists has custom created a broad range of specialty products from burgers to fully cooked proteins servicing both retail and food service customers across Canada. The company’s roots trace to Jack Cator starting on the farm and then running butcher shops, followed by son Ralph who elevated the business to protein processing in the 60’s under the Cardinal name. Now under the stewardship of third generation Brent Cator, Cardinal Meat Specialists serves its customers with state-of-the-art technology to provide the safest, most consistent and of highest quality products possible. actions and enforcement actions where warranted, guided by the Standard Regulatory Response Process. These actions included removing products from Canada, detention, destruction, or relabelling.

Fcc Sustainability Incentive Program Reopens With Crsb And Mccain Foods

Farm Credit Canada’s (FCC) Sustainability Incentive Program is once again open to applicants in partnership with the Canadian Roundtable for Sustainable Beef (CRSB) and McCain Foods.

FCC encourages eligible cattle producers and potato growers to explore the benefits of receiving incentive payments by increasing the adoption of sustainable practices through the CRSB certification initiative and the McCain Foods potato growers’ framework. Anyone who applied to the program in 2022 and new eligible applicants are now able to apply for this year’s incentive payments.

The goal of the Sustainability Incentive Program is to recognize and encourage customers as they adopt sustainable agricultural practices. Incentive payments are calculated on a portion of a customer’s lending with FCC. Producers are required to continue to meet the requirements and certification of their respective program to be eligible for the annual incentive payment. Complete details are available at fcc.ca.

The CRSB works with third-party certification bodies (Verified Beef Production Plus, Where Food Comes From and Ontario Corn Fed Beef Quality Assurance Program) to provide audited certification to its Sustainable Beef Production Standard at the cow-calf, background and feedlot level.

“FCC is happy to be reopening applications for our sustainability programs. We are in a unique position to work with individual sectors in the agriculture and food industry on their sustainability goals,” explains Curtis Grainger, FCC’s director of sustainability programs. “The progress we’re seeing looks different depending on the sector and on an individual’s operation. That’s why the established, verified initiatives at CRSB and McCain Foods are important partnerships that allow us to support producers with their individual needs.”

“As a global leader in the food industry, McCain Foods is committed to promote sustainable agriculture practices,” says Daniel Metheringham, McCain Food’s vice-president of agriculture. “We are proud to work in partnership with FCC to incentivize and support farmers in their transition to regenerative agriculture. This collaboration exemplifies our shared commitment to creating programs that foster environmental stewardship, improve farm resilience, and build a more sustainable future for our communities and our planet.”