Food safety

Cattle grazing pastures or woodland areas may be exposed to stray birdshot or buckshot from nearby hunting activity.

Once these foreign objects are embedded, they can compromise animal welfare, reduce carcass value, and raise food safety concerns, creating costly challenges for Canadian beef producers and processors alike.

Foreign objects that can penetrate cattle hides may originate from a range of on-farm and environmental sources, such as equipment and debris, machinery, worn or damaged oilers, scratchers, and scrap metal.

Poorly maintained or collapsing structures and handling systems or fences with sharp edges and loose parts.

Paddle grazing on shared or accessible land may be exposed to stray shotgun pellets or other types of shrapnel, buckshot being the most common foreign material found in beef carcasses.

So why does foreign material contamination matter? Foreign material contamination has implications across the entire beef value chain.

including animal welfare, as embedded objects can cause pain, infection, stress, and decrease production, in terms of food safety, as metal or plastic fragments in meat pose a risk for consumers, and economic impact, Contamination can lead to trim loss, carcass downgrades or rejection, reducing carcass value and impacting both producer and processors.

These outcomes increase production and processing time and cost.