The Role of Bovine Practitioners in Assuring the Safety of Beef

Abstract

According to TRENDS-1994 (TRENDS IN THE UNITED STATES-Consumer Attitudes And The Supermarket 1994; Food Marketing Institute, 1994), the top five food selection concerns and the percentages of the shopping public that considered these factors "Very Important" in food selection were as follows: (1) Taste, 90%; (2) Nutrition, 76%; (3) Price, 70%; (4) Product Safety, 69%; and (5) Storability, 41 %. Interestingly, worry about product (food) safety seems to be declining inasmuch as this issue ranked second in importance in food selection concerns in 1988 (83%) and fourth in importance in 1993 (72%) and 1994 (69%) in TRENDS reports for those respective years (Food Marketing Institute, 1988, 1993, 1994). Even so, if nearly 7 of 10 food shoppers think food safety is "Very Important," assuring the safety of its products is an economic imperative to those involved in beef production.