A food chain mobilized for action

Requirements from field to fork: an industry mobilized for action

On the farm: identification, health and well-being

Identified animals:

In order to allow identification, transparency and traceability beef farmers identify their livestock at birth.

Since 1978, beef cattle in France are carefully monitored from birth to market. On each ear they have a tag with a 10-digit national ID number. This same number is also used in a passport in which are noted the relevant information about the animal, such as its country of identification, its working number, its sex, its breed, its date of birth, as well as all its movements from birth. This information contributes to ensuring traceability. The passport includes a space for the health authority stamp. These documents are required at each movement of the animal as well as at the meatpackers. Traceability between the live animal and the point of sale is a European obligation: regulation (CE) 1760/2000 of the European Parliament from July 17, 2000 established a system of identification and recording of beef cattle, and concerns the labeling of beef and beef products. This is how each quarter and each cut are identified at each step in processing the carcass. Consumers can thus know the origin of the animal from which came the meat product purchased.

Safe and controlled feed

Feed must provide animals with the components needed for their vital functions and their growth. Thus beef farmers seek the optimal nutritional balance for their cattle so as to ensure maximum quality of meat for consumers.

Depending on the season, animal feed varies, but it remains primarily composed of fodder. In spring and summer, beef cattle generally feed in the pastures, while in winter, hay or silage enriches their feeding. Since 1990, so as to avoid any risk of contamination of beef by the agent of BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy), feed for animals intended for human consumption has been made safe by a ban on the use of animal flours.

Overall, a ration (daily quantity of feed necessary to cover the animal's nutritional needs) is typically made up of 60% grass, 20% corn, 12% grains, 6% oil cakes, 2% vitamins and minerals in various proportions. Some 92% of cattle feed is produced directly on the farm.

Daily health monitoring

Farmers master the rules of nutritional balance for their animals, and care for their well being. They identify and vigilantly monitor the health status of each head of cattle on a daily basis.

The well being of farm animals is an absolute requisite for the quality of marketed meat. Farmers are in daily contact with their animals, and watch over their comfort (feeding, infrastructure, atmosphere, transport, etc.). But ensuring the well being of cattle also means protecting their health. Vaccinations and treatments to avoid infections are regularly carried out under veterinarians' advice. The controlled use of veterinary drugs allows producers to avoid the presence of residues in meat.

Certain diseases are the targets of official eradication campaigns. This is the case, for example, of brucellosis, of which France is recognized as being free, of tuberculosis or leukosis, which are screen for in the context of European regulations. If a test is positive, the suspect animal is isolated from the herd, slaughtered then be subject to enhanced sanitary inspection at the meatpackers, where the veterinary services are ever present. No cattle can be slaughtered without an ante and post mortem. Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) is subject to two types of monitoring: clinical monitoring of live animals and testing on slaughtered animals at the meatpackers, or dead ones at the knackers.

In 2006, only eight cases of BSE were confirmed:

• No clinical case in live animals.
• Six cases out of 234,000 tests carried out at knackers on animals over 24 months in age
• Two cases out of 2,118,000 tests carried out at meatpackers on animal over 30 months in age

If a case arises on a farm, the sick animal as well as the others present an epidemiological risk, and are thus slaughtered and removed from the human food chain.

At the meatpackers

Hygiene monitored by State veterinary inspectors

A systematic verification of the individual documents that accompany the animals

Upon arrival at the meatpackers, the animal must be accompanied by its passport and the two tags indicating its ID number. A number is marked in ink on the carcass, in relation with the animal's ID number, as well as on each piece of cut meat. The meatpackers must be able at all times to find the ID number of the animal by using this slaughtering number. This system ensures traceability.

At the meatpackers, operators must set up and follow a plan for sanitary control within their establishments (maintenance of premises, butchering and processing of carcasses, equipment, staff hygiene, etc.) This plan is based on good hygiene practices and on the HACCP process.

 

The HACCP process:

HACCP stands for "Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points": it is the application of a systematic scientific method to identify the dangers tied to raw materials and the various operations applied to food, to rank them, and to determine the critical points where significant risks can appear, to allow the implementation of tools to control these risks and ensure the safety of the finished product delivered to the consumer.

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The operator verifies the effectiveness of its working methods by means of bacteriological testing.

 

Self regulation:

Professionals in charge of the sanitary quality of the products subject themselves to self-regulation controls, carried out both internally and by independent outside organizations

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All operations are monitored by the DDSV (Directions Départementales des Services Veterinaires), the representatives of government authorities.

 

The DDSV or Directions Départementales des Services Vétérinaires:

The DDSV, the local veterinary services of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, watch over the proper application of health regulations throughout the country, and constitute a strong alert network.

The DDSV are placed under the authority of prefects who are the direct representatives of the Ministers on the level of the départements.

More than 4000 agents over the entire country, assisted by 9000 designated practicing veterinarians, monitor and inspect the quality of livestock herds and food, from farm to fork.

Each day, these specialized agents, equipped with police authority, contribute to the protection of public health, animal welfare, and environmental protection.

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The systematic inspection of animals, ante and post mortem, but the veterinary inspectors

When they arrive at the meatpackers, all animals are examined to ensure their health and to check the conditions of their transport. Their identification as well as the health documents that accompany it are verified by the operator of the meatpacking plant, under the control of the veterinary inspectors. Any animal that is sick, poorly identified, or unaccompanied by the required documents is immediately withdrawn from the circuit and will not be slaughtered for human consumption.

After slaughter, the carcasses are inspected by the veterinary services, and the health controls carried out to determine if the meat is fit for human consumption. Since July 2001, all carcasses of cattle more than 24 months old that enter the food chain are subject to a screening for BSE. Since July 2005, all cattle more than 30 months in age are tested. Moreover, the veterinary inspectors verify that all "specified risk materials" or SRM, have been removed and eliminated.

 

"Specified risk materials" or SRM:

Even if animals present no symptoms of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, all tissues or organs presenting a potential risk are removed at the meatpacking plant and destroyed by incineration. These are the "specified risk materials" liable to carry an infectious agent such as a prion (amygdalas, eyes, brain and spinal cord). The vertebra of cattle less than 24 months in age are also withdrawn from consumptions, either in the cutting room or at the butcher's. They are taken to a secure incinerator.

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A stamp of good health is placed on all carcasses recognized as fit for human consumption by the veterinary inspectors. This stamp identifies the meatpackers. The carcass is then immediately directed to cold storage to be kept at a temperature of no more than +7°C. The meat then heads toward the cutting rooms.

In the cutting room:

Strict hygiene and mastery of the cold chain, monitored by inspectors

To ensure the health quality of meat, any contamination and multiplication of undesirable microorganisms must be avoided when handling it. This is only possible by using cold storage. The cutting rooms are thus refrigerated (12°C maximum) and the effectiveness of the hygiene measures is verified by testing (bacteriological tests of the meat). The veterinary inspectors regularly check the proper operation of the cutting room, in particular the respect of the cold chain and hygiene standards.

The ID number corresponding to the authorization number for the cutting room can be found on the label of the packaged cut meat. This ensures the respect for regulatory requirements.

All the way through marketing in France and abroad:

The meat is then transported to its destination in vehicles or containers designed and equipped to maintain the regulation internal temperature. The vehicles or containers are made using smooth internal surfaces, easy to clean, and with insulating materials that resist corrosion. Each vehicle is cleaned before and after every shipment. Here too, the veterinary inspectors ensure that the defined hygiene conditions are respected.

The respect for the cold chain during shipping and in the stores guarantees the health security of the products. Consumers must then ensure the optimal conditions for the storage (proper temperature, use-by date, etc.) and use (cooking, cleanliness of utensils and hands, etc.) of food products.

Should a health problem appear, the farmer, veterinarian or any other link in the chain, must alter the veterinary services. They must then make a first analysis of the situation and warn, if needed, the other government administrations concerned.

The national alert network and the EU alert network allow for mobilization in case of demonstrated or potential danger.

The Food and Veterinary Office (FVO), a European agency, controls the proper application of European regulations for food health safety and monitor the proper operation of control authorities in each of the States of the European Union. To do so, it regularly carries out audit missions of the veterinary services in each member State. Free movement of products is thus ensured with the confidence of the member States.

In case of an immediate risk for human health, the firm is obliged to withdraw all products likely to present the same risk as the incriminated sample.

When the risk is detected in an exported product, French authorities immediately warn the official authorities in the importing country. The agriculture and veterinary attachés serving in the French embassies in the importing country act as the liaison with local national authorities.

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