Media contact:
Misti Preston
Phone: (573) 751-8596
Misti.Preston@mda.mo.gov

For Immediate Release: June 1, 2006

‘Highly Successful’ Missouri Beef Tour Draws to an End

(JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.) – As Beef Month in Missouri draws to an end, the Missouri Department of Agriculture’s highly successful Beef Tour has concluded as well. On Sunday, May 21, a delegation of Japanese and Taiwanese beef importers, retailers and distributors arrived in Missouri to begin a four-day tour touting just a few of Missouri’s finest quality beef producers. Group members returned to their respective homes late last week with a better understanding of what Missouri has to offer to the Japanese and Taiwanese beef market.

“Our goal was for our Japanese guests to gather first-hand information about Missouri’s quality beef, and then share that information with the Japanese consumers,” said Mark Hitt, manager of MDA’s International Marketing Program. “By doing this, we hoped to increase their confidence in both Missouri and the United State’s beef products and programs.”

Delegates were able to tour several working farms raising cattle enrolled in the Missouri Quality Systems Assessment program. MDA developed the QSA program in October 2005, making Missouri the first state to implement a voluntary umbrella program that guarantees the source and age of its feeder cattle. This program was essential to the Japanese, as their requirements prohibit the purchase of beef from any animal over the age of 20 months due to the increase in potential for Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (mad cow disease). Tour participants watched as cattle were run through chutes, tagged with QSA tags and then scanned immediately into a database.

“The QSA tag demonstration was truly one of the main highlights of the week,” said Hitt. “For the Japanese to see first-hand how each animal’s information is processed and stored, and to know that the information is correct and secure, was an essential goal of their visit to our country.”

Japan and increasingly Taiwan have quality beef markets, according to Hitt, and Japan’s age and source verification requirements have given MDA the opportunity to highlight Missouri’s beef quality. Visitors with the tour group learned how Missouri’s premiere cattle producers utilize carcass data and other data in their breeding programs to produce high choice and prime beef cuts.

The next step in the ongoing process of trade relations with Japan will be to assemble an advisory group comprised of industry leaders from the beef sector. Officials plan to develop and market a brand of Missouri beef for domestic and international sale.

For more information on the Missouri Beef Tour and the QSA program, please visit the MDA Web site at www.mda.mo.gov.

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