Beef Quality Assurance

Beef Quality Assurance is made possible in the state of Iowa with funding from the Iowa Beef Industry Council (IBIC) and the $1 per head beef checkoff. Veterinarians, nutritionists, extension educators and other professionals from the Iowa Veterinary Medical Association, Iowa State University, ICA and IBIC working with the program believe cattle produced and managed using BQA guidelines will be less likely to contain a violative residue, objectional tissue damage and have more desirable uniform tenderness, juiciness and flavor.

Definition of Quality

Quality beef is a product which consistently exceeds customer expectations. Expectations may include flavor, tenderness, juiciness, color, leanness, safety, packaging, ease of preparation, price and anything else important to the consumer.

Dr. W. Edward Deming (a quality management expert credited with orienting Japanese products toward quality) conceptualized the ideas of total quality management and defined quality in two ways.

1. A product that conforms to a set of standards.

2. A product that meets consumer wants and needs.

Quality assurance is a system that works to prevent product defects from happening rather than a system which detects final product defects by:

• Identifying the set of standards required in a product that will meet or exceed customer expectations.
  
• Evaluating the entire production scheme of a product from start to finish.
  
• Developing a production system that prevents the production of a product that does not conform to prescribed standards.

This publication is dedicated to helping cattle producers identify good production practices and cattle genetic selection criteria that will prevent the production of beef products that do not conform to industry targets, and in turn, will enhance consumer satisfaction, improve beef’s competitiveness and increase producer profitability.

Current consumer demands suggest the following fed cattle target:

Target:

1. 650-850 pound hot carcass weight.
2. Slaughter age of 16 months or younger.
3. Fat thickness of .20” to .45” at the 12^th rib.
4. Ribeye size of 11” to 16” square inches.
5. USDA Yield Grade of 2.99 or better.
6. USDA Quality Grade of Low Choice or better.
7. Feedlot ADG of 3.5 or more.
8. Cherry red lean, white fat and zero bruise trim.