A LOT of work is going on behind-the-scenes to protect Australian beef from substitution in China.
Whether Australia's world-leading livestock integrity systems were a match for rip-off artists reportedly claiming cheap meat from other countries, and even horse meat, was Australian beef was a question raised at the recent Red Meat 2019 conference in Tamworth.
Presenter Lachlan Graham, from Argyle Foods Group in NSW, a branded beef and vertically integrated meat processing operation which sells into China, said substitution was indeed a key risk.
Australia's integrity systems - the likes of NLIS, LPA and national vendor declarations - were doing the hard yards on home soil and a lot of the work from there had to sit with brand owners, he said.
Blockchains would pick up the data and allow for a product to be entirely traceable, with a consumer in China scanning a code to identify it is Australian, he said.
"All our products are sold to an end user with whom we have a direct relationship - that's just one tool we've found a family-run business can use," Mr Graham said.
"We're working on other things - in box tracking devices and on-pack marketing, for example."
MSA low in Vic
ONLY 17 per cent of the cattle slaughter in Victoria was processed through the eating quality grading system Meat Standards Australia in the last financial year.
That puts the small southern state firmly out-of-step with the rest of the country.
South Australia topped the count at 54pc, WA was at 49pc, NSW 54pc and Queensland and the Northern Territory, measured as one, sat at 44pc.
A total of 3.5m cattle were processed through the program, an increase of 350,000 head on the previous year and the highest number since its inception.
MSA manager Sarah Strachan said Victoria was traditionally a strong state for saleyard selling of finished cattle and while that might be changing, it was probably the explanation for why the adoption rate is low in this state.
"However, we only see this as an opportunity to work with processors in Victoria more to get them to see value MSA might unlock for them," she said.
Wagyu steps up sale criteria
The 2020 Elite Wagyu Sale will see increased sale qualifications around body condition, genetic testing and accuracy of estimated breeding values, in addition to the listings being in the top five per cent of breed genetics.
To be held as part of the Australian Wagyu Association's annual conference in late April and early May, the sale is now open for vendors' nominations.
The auction will be conducted by RuralCo and GDL, and hosted by AuctionsPlus.
Early warning status
Livestock producers will have an additional tool next year with which to manage the biosecurity or food safety risk that can come with buying and selling animals.
From 13 January 2020, an early warning status will be visible to all account holders within the National Livestock Identification System database.
The status identifies whether the vendor's property has an animal on-farm that may be considered a risk to the buyer. It does not identify what the status is for or which specific animal it is assigned to.
Meat & Livestock Australia's Dr Jane Weatherley said the Property Identification Code-based early warning status encourages the buyer to investigate and assess the risk before the livestock are purchased.
This option has been available to processors and feedlots using the NLIS database for some time and involves only a very small number of PICs.
Cattle Council of Australia president Tony Hegarty said sellers of livestock should always disclose if the animals they are selling are high risk, but it is also good practice for those buying livestock to request status information from the vendor prior to purchase.