Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Scott Fausti called the meeting to order at 11:45am. A round of introductions was the first order of business. The committee then reviewed the agenda for this year’s meetings and discussed issues that needed to be addressed during annual meeting. Activities on the first day began with station reports and then a guest speaker, Paul Clayton, senior vice president of export services for the U.S. Meat Export Federation. The title of Mr. Clayton’s presentation was “Challenges and Opportunities facing U.S. Beef Exports. Mr. Clayton provided the committee an update on current issues facing the U.S. beef exporters. A major issue that is of great concern continues to be the issue of traceability and the lack of a formal structure in the U.S. is considered to be a major impediment to expanded U.S. meat exports.

Bret Hess, Administrative Advisor, was not able to attend. However, he sent instructions to the Committee, suggesting that we need to be aware that the project is due to terminate federal fiscal year 2017 (October 1 – September 30). In addition to documenting how project participants have worked together to accomplish its objectives, reached its milestones, and had an impact in the annual accomplishment report (see attached template), it would be most advisable for the committee to begin working on the project renewal. Proposals for projects requesting to be renewed in federal fiscal year 2018 are due in January, 2017. He asked to know who will be serving as the point of contact if the group decides to prepare a proposal for renewal. He looks forward to receiving the project’s annual accomplishment report in 60 days (whomever is responsible may email a Word version for me to enter into NIMSS).

Scott Fausti called the business meeting to order. The first order of business was the election of incoming secretary.  Jerrad Legako of Utah was elected.  Jim Oltjen is the outgoing chair and will write up the annual report and submit minutes and annual report to the NIMSS system.  Fausti will organize next year’s meeting. Two locations were discussed; Woerner offered to host at CSU and deMello offered to host at UNV-Reno.  Consensus was leaning toward CSU but Fausti will discuss the options with both committee members.  The next item on the business meeting agenda was the renewal of the project.  Jerrad Legako volunteered to be the chair.  It was decided that formal discussion needs to begin quickly.  The committee decided that the focus on the next project should again be on beef, but includes other ruminant livestock.

Accomplishments

Beef production can be improved with more accurate predictions of animal growth and carcass composition with the analysis of modern cattle—Oltjen (CA) presented updated results of UC growth models at the International Modelling conference in Cairns.

In Colorado a multidisciplinary team of experts was assembled to address the concerns of antimicrobial resistance associated with the use of antimicrobials in the livestock industry. This group is known as the Microbial Ecology Group, and the group is working with funding from the beef industry.  They successfully tracked the prevalence of antimicrobial resistant genes from feedlot to finished product.  Other CP work has updated the USDA Standard Reference for food with veal nutrient information to add further to the nutritional information of U.S. beef products to and international audience.  Further they investigated the impacts of animal age and beef carcass maturity on the eating characteristics of beef, which has led to the discussion of USDA grade changes for beef carcasses. Work has also identified the influence of beef production practices on product flavor.  Current work includes organizing the next National Beef Quality Audit.  Finally they have evaluated the safety and suitability of variety meats and offal items for international markets, and conducted residue screening to verify compliance of production practices in beef production systems.

Kansas work has shown that while E. coli risk mitigation is widely recognized as a key issue for the US cattle industry, the economics of why available E. coli vaccinations are not widely employed in feedyards present an important economic knowledge gap.  They estimated the economic incentives needed for adoption.  Also, economic factors influencing changes in herd inventories in the beef herd rebuilding phase were identified.  Factors restricting expansion include land availability, increasing production efficiency, operator demographics, capital requirements, and commodity price volatility.  Off-setting factors are unprecedented cow-calf returns, ongoing global beef demand growth, timing within the current cattle cycle, and some individual ranch factors.

In Michigan, on-going projects are quantifying consumer preferences for animal welfare attributes in meat products.  Also Chinese consumer demand for online meat retailing and emerging markets for imported meats is under investigation.  Finally, a project is underway to provide experimental evidence form Argentinean consumers for their preferences for beef retail channels and beef steak attributes.

Mississippi has established procedures to measure antioxidant status, fatty acids of various tissues, and ergovaline in blood, urine, and feces.  Ergovaline research in beef steers is an ongoing collaboration with Dr. Jerrad Legako and Dr. Chris Calkin to measure treatment effects on muscle cells and proteins, which will lead to better understanding of how tall fescue stress affects beef quality.  They are also conducting a pre-rigor beef sausage project to determine the effects of pre-rigor meat on foodborne pathogens, technological quality, and shelf life.  Initial data indicated that pre-rigor beef offered better pathogen reduction; however, such an effect is minimal compared with simple effects of processing such as salting.  Measurements on technological quality and shelf life using both descriptive sensory panel and chemical assays are ongoing.  Regarding beef production system, they are engaging in a novel approach using instrumental analysis to determine biomarkers of bull fertility.  This collaborative work with Dr. Erdrogan Memili at Mississippi State University and Dr. Arlindo Moura at the Federal University of Ceara in Brazil has identified few potential biomarkers.  Also preliminary analysis data collected in Vietnam indicated that consumers in developing regions such as Vietnam have great concern for food safety and would pay more for safer meat or meat guaranteed to be safe.  A focus group of top Vietnamese executives of a major meat trading company will shed light onto various factors that can help U.S. beef penetrate developing markets.

One of a number of Nebraska projects focuses on the relationships between product quality and competitiveness of beef. Research will be conducted to assess quality impacts for fresh and processed meats by assessing impacts of animal health, animal care, and processing management/production strategies; and to determine factors influencing domestic and international consumer demand for U.S. beef. Distillers grains, a by-product of ethanol production, have become an important component of cattle diets. However, feeding cattle distillers grains impacts fatty acid composition, color stability, and lipid oxidation in beef. Studies in this project have identified that feeding distillers grains change the phospholipid composition of cellular and organelle membranes and impacts membrane integrity. Interestingly, this may lead to slight improvements in beef tenderness. However, feeding distillers grains also increased lipid oxidation and reduced color stability. These changes must be balanced with improvements in tenderness. When cattle diets containing distillers grains were supplemented with vitamin E, no changes in the membranes were identified and the oxidation and stability of steaks was similar to those from cattle fed corn-based diets. This suggests that oxidation is likely related to the changes in composition and stability of membranes. When beef from cattle fed distillers grain is used to produce ground beef or cooked beef products, reduced shelf life due to increased lipid oxidation and discoloration were identified. However, these changes in shelf life can be negated by feeding vitamin E or adding antioxidants to the beef during further processing. This project has provided a greater understanding of the impacts of feeding distillers grain on beef quality and opportunities to counterbalance the associated changes. Research within this project was also conducted to meet consumer demands. Also, to meet demands for more natural foods, all-beef frankfurter manufactured with celery juice powder was shown to have similar quality and shelf life characteristics as those manufactured with sodium nitrite.

Empirical analysis on market structure issues facing cow/calf and feedlot operators in South Dakota is ongoing. The issue currently being investigated is feedlot operator market access to new packing plants entering South Dakota. Data are being collected on current marketing practices of regional feedlot operators. Understanding how finished cattle are being marketed in the South Dakota region will allow the development of marketing strategy recommendations to be developed for SD producers. Currently the survey instrument for a South Dakota Feedlot Study has been completed.

A project in Virginia to measure and improve beef quality, safety and value will assess impacts of animal health, animal care, and processing management/production strategies.   In the first experiment, they will compare artificial insemination pregnancy rates of cattle restrained in a conventional squeeze chute versus a breeding box.  In the second, the differences between grass and grain-fed cattle’s beef quality dictated by the extent of postmortem pH decline were investigated. They hypothesized that grass-fed cattle have a more oxidative metabolic profile than those cattle grain-fed. Higher ultimate pH (P < 0.05) was observed in the muscle of grass-fed cattle compared to that of grain-fed cattle, while no differences in glycolytic potential were detected. As predicted, the grass-fed beef exhibited a more oxidative metabolic profile as indicated by the greater (P < 0.05) abundance of SDH-A and the lower (P < 0.05) abundance of LDH and GAPDH. The longissimus dorsi of grass-fed cattle exhibits a higher ultimate pH and a more oxidative metabolic profile than grain-fed cattle. The higher ultimate pH may contribute to the darker color of grass-fed beef.  Finally, the effects of bST administration prior to fixed-time AI on pregnancy rates, fetal development and hormonal profile of beef heifers were studied.

The palatability of forage finished beef can be variable. Washington work is focused on identifying the flavor compounds associated with positive and negative flavor profiles in beef and evaluating pre- and post-harvest practices to optimize flavor profiles. Development of a short list of flavor active compounds will enhance our ability to understand factors affecting grass-fed beef flavor variability. We also conduct a series of Extension programs BEEF 100, 200 and 300 targeting the learning needs of beginning through advanced producers, and focused on promoting pre- and post-harvest practices that enhance the quality, palatability, safety and nutritional value of beef. We have worked with several organizations and companies interested using our patented Direct Methylation Procedure as well. The procedure provides efficient, cost-effective and water tolerant methods for preparing fatty acid esters from organic matter, including: obtaining organic matter having at least one fat substituent, In collaboration with Dr. Du, the effect of vitamin A on intramuscular adipogenesis in beef cattle is being investigated.  Also with him we are studying the niche market for high quality beef from small and medium farms, identifying animals, specific housing and personnel for accomplishment of this project. One objective will be to evaluate the effect of maternal nutrition during late pregnancy of Angus cows on the meat characteristics of their Angus and Wagyu sired calves.

In Indiana three beef quality research projects have been undertaken.  In the first, fresh meat color evaluation using a structured light imaging system was completed;, the second measured meat tenderness using anisotropy imaging analysis; and the third used stepwise dry or wet aging to assess the physical, chemical and quality attributes of beef loins.

North Dakota research evaluated the impact of forgage level and corn processing on beef quality. Decreased forage level and processing improved carcass weights, and processing corn increased meat redness and yellowness.

55 publications listed at end of this report

Milestones

We accomplished milestone 1 in 2015 by organizing a symposium at the Reciprocal Meats Conference in Lincoln, Nebraska.

AOTF hyperspectral image acquisition system for tenderness assessment of beef carcasses. J. Food Engineering 154:1–9.

Calkins, Chris. 2015. Keeping the eating experience enjoyable: Postmortem management of heavy carcasses. Joint Animal Science Meeting of the American Society of Animal Science. J. Anim. Sci. 93 (Suppl.3):513.

Carabus, A., R.D. Sainz, J.W. Oltjen, M. Gispert, M. Font-i-Furnols.  2015.  Predicting fat, lean and the weights of primal cuts for growing pigs of different genotypes and sexes using computed tomography.  J. Anim. Sci. 93:1388-1397.

Chail, A., J.F. Legako, L.R. Pitcher, T.C. Griggs, R.E. Ward, S. Martini, and J.W. MacAdam. 2016. Legume finishing provides beef with positive human dietary fatty acid ratios and comparable consumer preference with grain-finished beef. J. Anim. Sci. 94(5):2184-2197.

Chao, M. D., K. Domenech-Perez, and C. R. Calkins. 2015. Feeding vitamin E may reverse sarcoplasmic reticulum membrane instability caused by feeding wet distillers grains plus solubles to cattle. Midwestern Animal Science Meeting of the American Society of Animal Science. J. Anim. Sci. 93 (Suppl. 2):191.

Chao, M., C. Calkins, K. Domenech-Perez, H. Voegele, and E. Kunze. 2015. Effects of dietary antioxidant supplementation of cattle finished with 30% wet distillers grains plus solubles on fatty acid profiles and display life. Proceedings, 68th Reciprocal Meat Conference, Amer. Meat Sci. Assoc., Champaign, IL. P. 67.

Chao, M.D. 2015. Impact of wet distillers grains plus solubles and antioxidants on a basic mechanism of beef tenderization. Ph.D. Dissertation, Univ. of NE – Lincoln.

Chao, Michael D., Katherine I. Domenech, and Chris R. Calkins. 2016. Feeding vitamin E may reverse sarcoplasmic reticulum membrane instability caused by feeding wet distillers grains plus solubles to cattle. Nebraska Beef Cattle Report. MP103. P. 170-172.

Chao, Michael D., Katherine I. Domenech, Chris R. Calkins. 2015. A Basic Mechanism of Beef Tenderization: Feeding Wet Distillers Grains Plus Solubles Contributes to Sarcoplasmic Reticulum Membrane Instability. Nebraska Beef Cattle Report. MP101. P. 117-119.

Chao, Michael D., Katherine I. Domenech, Hope R. Voegele, Emery K. Kunze, and Chris R. Calkins. 2016. Effects of dietary antioxidant supplementation on cattle finished with 30% wet distillers grains plus solubles on fatty acid profiles and display life. Nebraska Beef Cattle Report. MP103. P. 167-169.

Cleveland, B. D. (2015). Effects of feeding distillers grains throughout different phased of production on shelf life of ground beef. M.S. Thesis, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE.

Cleveland, B. D., Bower, C. G., Redfield, A. L., Sullivan, G. 2015. Effect of Feeding Distillers Grains and Supplementing with Dietary Antioxidants on Ground Beef Color During Retail Display. Nebraska Beef Cattle Report. MP101. P. 124.

Cleveland, B. D., Redfield, A. L., MacDonald, J., Jones, T. F., Sullivan, G. 2015. Effect of Feeding Distillers Grains in Different Phases of Production on the Fatty Acid Profile and Oxidation of Frozen, Cooked Beef Links. Nebraska Beef Cattle Report. MP101. P. 122-123.

Cleveland, B., Bower, C., Jones, T., MacDonald, J., Sullivan, G. 2015. Effect of feeding distillers grains and supplementing antioxidants on lipid oxidation of ground beef. Reciprocal Meat Conference. Lincoln, NE. June 14*17, 2015. Abstract #102.

Cleveland, B.D., Sullivan, G.A. 2016. Effect of Feeding Distillers Grains and Supplementing with Dietary Antioxidants on Ground Beef Shelf Life and Fatty Acid Profile. Nebraska Beef Cattle Report. MP103. P. 164-166.

Costa, P., J. A. Simões, A. S. H. Costa , J. P. C. Lemos, D. Navas, J. F. Hocquette, C. R. Calkins and R. J. B. Bessa. 2015. Repercussions of growth path on carcass characteristics, meat colour and shear force in Alentejana bulls. Animal 9(8):1414-1422.

Diersen, Matthew, and Scott Fausti. PRICE DISCOVERY AND LOCAL INFORMATION IN CATTLE ON FEED REPORTS. Economics Commentator, No.556, September 2015, Department of Economics, South Dakota State University

Diersen, Matthew., Gurung, Pratik., and Fausti, Scott. Optimal Allocation of Index Insurance Intervals for Commodities.http://purl.umn.edu/196793

Digest 70. 2015. “Meeting Market Demands Through Cooperation.” Proceedings of British Cattle Conference. Calkins, C.R. 2015. The U.S. Beef industry – meeting consumer needs. P. 9 – 10.

Domenech,  Katherine I., Keni E.Z. Nubiato, Galen E. Erickson, and Chris R. Calkins. 2016. Beef fatty acid profiles from steers finished with de-oiled dry distillers grains plus solubles vs. a corn-based diet. Nebraska Beef Cattle Report MP103. P. 156-157.

Domenech, Katherine I., Michael D. Chao, Joe Buntyn, Ty Schmidt, and Chris R. Calkins. 2016. Impact of supplementing cattle with Omni-Gen-AF at the receiving or finishing phase on beef shelf-life. MP103. Nebraska Beef Cattle Report. P.161-163.

Fausti, Scott., Diersen, Matthew., Qasmi, Bashir., and Adamson, Bill. The Influence of Market Power and Market Trends on Grid Market Signals. Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics. Volume 40, Number 1, January 2015.

Hunt, M.R., J.F. Legako,  T.T.N. Dinh, A.J. Garmyn,, T.G. O’Quinn, C.H. Corbin, R.J. Rathmann, J.C. Brooks, and M.F. Miller. 2016. Assessment of volatile compounds, neutral and polar lipid fatty acids of four beef muscles from USDA Choice and Select graded carcasses and their relationships with consumer palatability scores and intramuscular fat content. Meat Sci. 116:91-101.

Kim, Y.H.B., Setyabrata, D., Kim, T., Kim, Y.L. 2015. Meat tenderness assessment using anisotropy imaging analysis. RMC conference, Lincoln, Nebraska.

Legako, J. F., T. T. N. Dinh, M. F. Miller, K. Adhikari, and J. C. Brooks. 2015. Consumer palatability scores, sensory descriptive attributes, and volatile compounds of grilled beef steaks from three USDA Quality Grades. Meat Sci. 112:77–85.

Martin, J., Cleveland, B., Jones, T., MacDonald, J., Sullivan, G. 2015 effect of feeding dried de-oiled distillers grains and addition of postmortem antioxidants on ground beef shelf life. Reciprocal Meat Conference. Lincoln, NE. June 14-17, 2015.

Martin, J.C., Cleveland, B.D., Jones, T.F., MacDonald, J.C., Sullivan. G.A. 2016. Effect of Feeding Dried De-oiled Distillers Grains and Addition of Postmortem Antioxidants on Ground Beef Shelf Life. Nebraska Beef Cattle Report. MP103. P. 158-160.

McCain, A. K., P. T. T. Vu, N. T. Mai, M. V. V Le, D. H. Nguyen, P. R. Broadway, L. M. Guillen, M. M. Brashears, J. R. Donaldson, M. W. Schilling, and T. T. N. Dinh. 2015. Influence of market setting and time of purchase on counts of aerobic bacteria , escherichia coli , and coliform and prevalence of salmonella and listeria in beef in Vietnam. Agric. Food Anal. Bacteriol. 5:135–152.

McClenton,  B. J., C. W. Waldrip, C. G. Hart, A. T. Sukumaran, C. O. Lemley, J. R. Blanton, and T. T. N. Dinh. 2016.  Effects of summer and winter feeding of endophyte infected tall fescue seeds on average daily gain and activity of hepatic cytochrome p450 1a, 2c, 3a, aldo-keto reductase 1c, and uridine 5’-diphospho-glucuronosyltransferase in beef steers.  2016 ASAS Annual Meeting, Salt Lake, UT.

Meyers, B., Kim, Y.H.B., Liceaga, A., Lemenager, R. 2015. Effects of stepwise dry/wet aging on physical, chemical and quality attributes of beef loins. RMC conference, Lincoln, Nebraska.

Meyers, B., Liceaga, A., Kim, Y.H.B. 2015. Effects of sequential dry/wet aging and fast freezing on physical, chemical and quality attributes of beef loins. IFT. Chicago, Illinois.

Michael D. Chao, Katherine I. Domenech, and Chris R. Calkins. 2015. Strategies to Enhance Meat Quality: Feeding Vitamin E May Reverse Sarcoplasmic Reticulum Membrane Instability Caused by Feeding Wet Distillers Grains plus Solubles to Cattle. Proceedings of the Second International Meat Science Symposium, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. P. 73-82.

Miller, E., Bower, C. G., Redfield, A. L., Sullivan, G. 2015. The Effects of Souce and Amount of Nitrite on Quality Characteristics of All-Beef Frankfurters. Nebraska Beef Cattle Report. MP101. P. 120-121.

Naganathan, Konda, G. K. Cluff, A. Samal, C. Calkins, D. Jones, C. Lorenzen, and J. Subbiah. 2015. A prototype on-line

Naganathan, Konda, G. K. Cluff, A. Samal, C. Calkins, D. Jones, C. Lorenzen, and J. Subbiah. 2015. Hyperspectral imaging of ribeye muscle on hanging beef carcasses for tenderness assessment. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 116: 55–64.

Naganathan, Konda, G. K. Cluff, A. Samal, C. Calkins, D. Jones, G. Meyer, and J. Subbiah. 2016. Three dimensional chemometric analyses of hyperspectral images for beef tenderness forecasting. J. Food Engineering 169: 309-320.

Naganathan, Konda, G. K. Cluff, A. Samal, C. Calkins, D. Jones, R. Wehling, and J. Subbiah. 2016. Identification and validation of key wavelengths for beef tenderness forecasting. Transactions of the ASABE. (accepted)

Naganathan, Konda, G., K. Cluff, A. Samal, C. Calkins, and J. Subbiah. 2015. Quality evaluation of beef and pork. In B. Park and R. Lu (Ed), Hyperspectral imaging technology in food and agriculture, Springer, NY. ISBN 978-1-4939-2836-1.

Nelson, M. L., J. R. Busboom, M. Heitstuman and J. L. Schmidt, 2015. WSU Meat Animal Evaluation, Analysis and Technology Team Adding Value to Meat Products from Farm to Table: A Model of Successful Extension Programming. Journal of Extension 53:1TOT7.  http://www.joe.org/joe/2015february/tt7.php.

Nubiato, Keni E.Z., Katherine I. Domenech, Galen E. Erickson, and Chris R. Calkins. 2016. Effect of feeding de-oiled dry distillers grains plus solubles on beef oxidation, color and tenderness. Nebraska Beef Cattle Report. MP103. P. 153-155.

Ortega, D.L., H. Holly Wang, Maolong Chen, 2015. Emerging Markets for U.S. Meat and Poultry in China. Choices.

Qasmi, Bashir A.,Fausti, Scott W., and Underwood, Keith R. Consumers' Preferences and Willingness to Pay for Ground Bison. http://purl.umn.edu/225645

O’Quinn, T.G., D.R. Woerner, T. Engle, P. Chapman, J.F. Legako, J.C. Brooks, K. Belk, and J.D. Tatum. 2016. Identifying consumer preferences for specific beef flavor characteristics in relation to cattle production and postmortem processing parameters. Meat Sci. 112:90-102.

Rosa, A., K. Domenech-Perez, M. Chao, H. Voegele, K. Nubiato, E. Kunze, and C. Calkins. 2015. Aging effects on selected beef muscles from carcasses classified into tenderness groups based on longissimus muscle tenderness. Proceedings, 68th Reciprocal Meat Conference , Amer. Meat Sci. Assoc., Champaign, IL. P. 73.

Rosa, A.F., K. D. Perez, M. D. Chao, H. Voegele, K. Nubiato, Kunze E. and C. R. Calkins. Tenderness relationships among beef muscles during aging. 61st International Congress of Meat Science and Technology (ICOMST), Clermont-Ferrand, France.

Smith, S.M, and Busboom J. 2015. WSU Livestock Carcass Grade & Cutability Calculator App for Androids and Iphones.

Smith, S.M., Busboom, J.R., and Moffitt, N. 2015. Pig Handling and Training Techniques for 4-H/FFA Youth, Leaders, and Advisors.

Smith, S.M., Busboom, J.R.., Heitstuman, M.D. and Moffitt, N. 2015. Basic Sheep Handling and Training for Small Scale and Youth Producers. (In Preparation)

Smith, S.M., Heitstuman, M.D., Busboom, J.R., Kuber, P.S., Neibergs, J.S., & Schmidt, J. (2015). 2015 Lamb 300 Notebook.  MEAT TEAM PUBLICATIONS , Oregon version.

Smith, S.M., Heitstuman, M.D., Busboom, J.R., Kuber, P.S., Neibergs, J.S., & Schmidt, J. (2016). 2016 Lamb 300 Notebook.  MEAT TEAM PUBLICATIONS , California version.

Sukumaran, A. T., A. K. McCain, Y. L. Campbell, T. Kim, M. W. Schilling, and T. T. N. Dinh. 2016. Effect of pre-rigor deboning and storage time on the growth of Salmonella and E. coli in various stages of beef sausage production. Abstracts from the 69^th Reciprocal Meat Conference of the American Meat Science Association.

Sullivan, G.A. 2014. Impacts of Cattle Diet and Antioxidants on the Shelf Life of Ready-to-Eat Beef Products. Kemin Lectures for the Advancement of the ScienceS (KLASS), Kemin Industries, Des Moines, IA, November 5, 2014.

Tonsor, G.T. and L. Schulz. 2015. Economic considerations related to U.S. beef herd expansion.  J. Anim. Sci. 93:4227-4234.

Tonsor, G.T. and T.C. Schroeder.  2015.  Market impacts of E. coli vaccination in U.S. feedlot cattle.  Agric. Food Econ. 3:7.

Trinderup, C.H., and Kim, Y.H.B. Fresh meat color evaluation using a structured light imaging system. 2015. Food Research International. 71C:100-107.

Wang, B. Yang, Q., harris, C., Nelson, M.L., Busboom, J. R., Zhu, M., and Du, M. 2016.  Nutrigenomic regulation of adipose tissue development --- role of retinoic acid. Meat Sci. Available online April 8, 2016