Arkansas Extension Stays Ahead of the Curve, Keeping Foreign Objects From Beef Production

By Ryan McGeeney

As beef production experts have raised concerns over foreign objects, from buckshot to vaccination needles, being discovered in slaughtered cattle in some areas of the country, Arkansas facilities have remained above the fray. Maggie Justice, extension beef cattle specialist for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, said that's due in part to extension's outreach efforts to educate producers.

Justice is also the Arkansas state coordinator for the National Beef Quality Assurance program.

“The BQA is a nationally coordinated education and certificate program designed to help educate producers to ensure that beef cattle are raised responsibly, with a focus on quality, safety and overall animal welfare,” Justice said. “It’s a set of voluntary guidelines focused on best management practices for all segments of the beef industry. From cow-calf all the way up to feedlot operators and even people transporting cattle.”

In May, an article in the beef industry trade publication Drovers called attention to findings in the most recent national beef quality audit, conducted in 2022 and analyzed in 2023. The audit is conducted by the BQA every five years, Justice said.

Among the findings in the audit, 100 percent of the audited slaughter facilities — none of which were in Arkansas — identified buckshot, birdshot or other metallic foreign objects present in beef from cows and bulls, Justice said.

“From that, 50 percent of those plants reported customer complaints from a further processing plant,” she said, referencing locations that, for example, process beef into hamburger patties for restaurant chains.

“I was in the room at the national BQA coordinators’ meeting last summer when this came to light,” Justice said. “There wasn’t an area of the country we could blame this on. It wasn’t seasonality, so we can’t blame the hunters. But it’s obviously an issue.