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JEROME, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) - Jerome County made a big announcement Friday morning which means big things for the Magic Valley.
A beef processing plant is coming to Jerome, Agri Beef is opening a plant on Highway 93 which will be called True West Beef.
“The company is focused on working with livestock producers from all over the region, to develop differentiate brand beef products and to carve out a unique and recognized market position for northwest raised beef,” said Jay Theiler, the executive vice president of Agri Beef.
The beef processing plant will add about 400 new jobs to the area and create a way for livestock producers to be involved in the process.
The company presented their plans to Jerome 2020 and the County Commissioners earlier this year.
“The other part that we liked about is they pay a living wages, their benefits that’s help 350 jobs that is a great boom to the county, that’ll help our ranchers that we so dearly love, I don’t raise cattle for a living, I raise cattle for entertainment but it will help us too so we appreciate all that,” said Charlie Howell, one of the Jerome County Commissioners.
They already own a plant in Washington and Governor Brad Little says this will help more than just the ranchers.
“The value added to people who are selling feed to cattlemen, everything in the whole industry of cattlemen, which I might know a little bit about, this is a big big addition,” said Governor Brad Little.
The company says Jerome is the perfect place for this project.
“We will do everything we can to meet and or exceed those expectations, and to Larry Hall and the Jerome 2020 board, thank you for your incredible support and assistance,” said Robert Rebholtz Jr. the CEO.
Remember at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, when local ranchers sold out quickly of their meat subscriptions and cow shares? At least one local ranch still has beef shares available.
Scott Lookabaugh of LookBack Acres Ranch in Rosebud, east of Temple, says they are still taking customers who are interested in buying grass-fed beef by the quarter, half, three-quarters or whole share.
The ranch asks for a deposit up front, starting at $200 for the quarter share, and then the ultimate cost ($4.95 per pound with no processing costs) depends on the hanging weight, which is the weight of the carcass before it is processed into individual cuts. The beef is dry-aged in a climate-controlled cooler for 14 to 21 days, so the orders are ready about three or four weeks after the animal is processed.
You’ll need space in a deep freezer to store the meat; the quarter share is about 160 pounds of meat, and a whole share is about 650 pounds. Lookabaugh offers delivery in the Austin area. For more information, go to lbaranch.com.
The average ready-to-butcher animal weighs 1,300 pounds. This can vary a lot, depending on breed, finishing and management of the producer marketing the animal. Courtesy photo
DENVER — The Beef Industry Long Range Plan task force officially introduced its new five-year plan for 2021-2025 at the Cattle Industry Summer Business Meeting in Denver.
The task force’s mission is to ensure the long-term prosperity of the U.S. beef industry by sustainably producing the most trusted, highest quality and consistently satisfying protein for consumers around the world.
“We want beef to be the protein of choice, and we want the entire U.S. beef industry to be trusted and respected for its commitment to quality, safety and sustainability,” said Kim Brackett, leader of the task force and cow/calf rancher from Idaho. “The task force invested many hours, discussing the current state of the industry and what we need to accomplish over the next five years. We feel we’ve established some important priorities and strategies, as well as benchmarks for success that will help keep our industry on track through 2025 and beyond.”
LONG RANGE PLAN
Updated every five years, the Beef Industry Long Range Plan is a tool designed to help the beef industry establish a common set of objectives and priorities. It communicates the industry’s strategic direction and provides insight on how the industry can serve its stakeholders by growing beef demand.
Since 1995, industry leaders have gathered to develop an aligned, comprehensive plan with the goal of increasing consumer demand for beef. These leaders are brought together to study and compile major areas of opportunity facing beef over the next five years.
The 2021-2025 Beef Industry Long Range Plan includes the following key priorities and core strategies:
Industry Objectives:
1. Grow global demand for U.S. beef by promoting beef’s health and nutritional benefits, satisfying flavor and unparalleled safety.
2. Improve industry-wide profitability by expanding processing capacity and developing improved value-capture models.
3. Intensify efforts in researching, improving, and communicating U.S. beef industry sustainability.
4. Make traceability a reality in the U.S. beef industry.
Core Strategies:
1. Drive growth in beef exports.
2. Grow consumer trust in beef production.
3. Develop and implement better business models to improve price discovery and value distribution across all segments.
4. Promote and capitalize on the multiple advantages of beef.
5. Improve the business and political climate for beef.
6. Safeguard and cultivate investment in beef industry research, marketing and innovation.
“We’ll measure the plan’s success by tracking key metrics for each Core Strategy,” Brackett said. “For example, one of the measures for the Core Strategy to ‘Drive growth in beef exports’ will be to grow the value of U.S. beef exports as a percent of total beef value to 21% by 2025. Additionally, there are a number of other goals to help measure success specific to the other core strategies.”
USING THE PLAN
The Long Range Plan Task Force encourages other beef industry businesses and organizations to utilize the plan as input for their own strategic decision making processes.
For example, the Beef Checkoff, its committees, and contracting organizations, use pieces of the Long Range Plan as their guidebook. All funding decisions and focus areas of checkoff projects and programs, by design, must follow the key areas outlined in the plan that align with checkoff budget categories: promotion, research, consumer information, industry information, producer communication and foreign marketing. To ensure this focus, each year checkoff committees continue to renew their alignment by identifying key plan initiatives as their priorities based on current industry needs. Checkoff contractors take this direction and develop checkoff-funded programs that fall within the scope of the Beef Promotion and Research Act and Order and support the plan’s priorities.
TASK FORCE
The task force convened several times over the past year and considered all aspects of the industry from production trends, economic factors, foreign markets, consumer trends, and the competitive climate. The group evaluated the previous five-year plan and determined, based on industry trends and insights, where the industry should maintain and/or shift focus over the next five years.
In addition to Brackett, other members of the task force are also individuals representing key beef industry segments and devoted to ensuring the beef industry’s long-term success:
• Keith Belk, Department Head Animal Science, Colorado State University (Fort Collins, Colo.)
• Andy Bishop, Fairfield Farms, (Cox’s Creek, Ky.)
• Tim Brady, director of risk management, Agri Beef Co. (Boise, Idaho)
• Donnell Brown, owner/manager, R.A. Brown Ranch (Throckmorton, Texas)
• John Butler, CEO the Beef Marketing Group, feeder (Manhattan, Kan.)
• Paul Defoor, Co-CEO at Cactus Feeders, Inc., feeder (Amarillo, Texas)
• Joe Goggins, owner, auctioneer and field rep, Public Auction Yards, (Billings, Mont.)
• Ken Griner, president, Usher Land & Timber, Inc., cow/calf and seedstock (Chiefland, Fla.)
• Mary Kraft, owner/operator, Quail Ridge Dairy (Fort Morgan, Colo.)
• Jon Lowe, head of global commercial development, Livestock, Zoetis (Parsippany, N.J.)
• Dean Meyer, farmer/feeder (Rock Rapids, Iowa)
• William Rishel, owner, Rishel Ranch, seedstock (Lincoln, Neb.)
• Jerry Wulf, partner/advisor, Wulf Cattle (Hancock, Minn.)
“After helping to develop our previous Long Range Plan, I was encouraged with how it was embraced by the entire industry,” said Brackett. “Over the past year, our task force researched and fashioned this new plan with just as much care, and we hope it will be received with even more enthusiasm.”
To view the complete Beef Industry Long Range Plan, a plan summary or get more information, visit BeefLongRangePlan.com. ❖
The pork steak is not a common cut. Some markets don't carry it at all. In others, they are thin and unattractive. Yet properly prepared, the pork steak is a hidden treasure.
The pork steak is a slice of pork shoulder, what we call a Boston butt. When cut into a thick slice, this steak becomes an excellent and versatile piece of pork. But just like beef shoulder steak, this cut requires careful cooking to be tender.
Recently, I had the butcher at Wright’s Market cut me six pork steaks. I requested a thickness of 1 1/2 inches, bone-in and well-trimmed. The steaks were uniform and weighed about 1.75 pounds. For around $30, I got an armload of pork.
The pork steak comes from hard-working and weight-bearing muscles. We commonly see it as a roast. We smoke or grill it for long hours. You might cover it in the oven and do the same. Long simmered in milk, it becomes a luscious Italian delicacy.
When you take that Boston butt and cut it into thick slices, a beautiful thing happens. The cut holds together. It's basically a small roast. And when treated that way, the result is true flavorful tenderness.
I got the pork cut to once again try making the well-known St. Louis pork steaks. Two previous tries some years back did not produce the result I wanted. This time, my plan was to develop a recipe that was easy to use and produced a good result. With variations, it can be a more complicated and varied process.
More recipes
Of course, with all those pork steaks on my hands, I wasn't going to stop at one recipe. I wanted to look at other ways of cooking this hidden treasure. I want to share some of my results with you. I think you will enjoy.
One of my favorite Asian dishes is twice or double-cooked pork. Traditionally, pork belly is simmered before slicing and then stir fried. Pork steak is a great substitute. The result is both tender and crisp.
Rich versions have bean paste or fermented black beans added. Most always sweet peppers appear and sometimes cabbage. Find it Szechuan-style and hot dried chilies are added.
Making a version using thick strips was a goal. One steak yields a dozen ample strips. After browning, I placed them in my pressure cooker along with onions, peppers, mushrooms and tomato. After an hour, I had tender pork with plenty of liquid to serve over rice or pasta.
With another steak, I used onion, garlic, paprika and cumin. The remaining one was made with Thai seasonings including basil, kaffir lime leaves and coconut milk. Both were tasty, tender and easy to prepare.
Back to the St. Louis pork steak. Before, I had followed the original Schnuck’s versions. Baking at high heat was not what I wanted. Then I used a lower temperature method and still didn’t get the desire result.
This time braising was my game. I made a sauce using onion, garlic, ketchup, chicken stock and seasonings. After searing the steaks, I placed them in a foil-covered pan and baked them for two hours at 300˚F.
I took some of the cooking liquid and reduced it by over half. The steaks were removed from the remaining liquid and plated. I brushed them with the thick sauce.
That did it. The steaks were fork-tender and full of flavor. Serve with grilled bread and fruit or salad. Alternatively pull the pork for sandwiches.
Give pork steaks a try. They are a treasure, often found hiding in plain sight.
Jim Sikes is an Opelika resident; a food, wine and restaurant consultant; and a columnist for the Opelika-Auburn News. Contact him on Facebook at In the Kitchen with Chef Jim.
In case you missed it, this past Wednesday was National Lasagna Day. No worries, I missed that one too, but the Spicy Pork Italian Sausage Lasagna Dish recipe the Wisconsin Pork Association shared on Facebook this week sure had me thinking of whipping one up soon.
I remember being in college, and just a newlywed, when I discovered the difference substituting pork sausage for hamburger could do to a lasagna. Back then we used to get a half of a hog for Christmas from my husband's parents and it always seemed like "our half" was mostly bacon and pork sausage. (No complaining here!)
Growing up, my family really only used ground pork for scrambled eggs (which probably had to do with the fact that my family candled eggs for a living) so 22-year-old me had to get creative in the kitchen.
Now I will only use ground pork in my lasagna or spaghetti sauce.
Since COVID-19 has upended consumer eating and cooking habits, it looks like more folks have caught on to the secret ingredient and are ditching ground beef for pork.
According to the National Pork Board's "Insight to Action," from March 1 through June 14, 45% of ground pork shoppers were people who had not purchased it in the year prior. Before the pandemic, ground pork sales had been flat in both dollars and pounds sold. The data from Numerator also found 80% of new buyers were very or extremely satisfied with their ground pork purchase, and 89% said they probably or definitely will buy ground pork again.
As the "Insight to Action" newsletter reminds retailers and packers, ground pork isn't just for Italian dishes. Ground pork also works well in many Asian and Hispanic dishes. I've found that out firsthand as ground pork has definitely made my chili and taco soup much more flavorful.
Ground pork is not just a substitute for other protein; it has a number of attributes that new consumers are discovering in 2020. It is flavorful, easy to use, versatile and freezes well to meet both current and future needs.
It's been more than 15 years since I started experimenting with ground pork, and I'm still finding new things I need to try, including the famous Iowa ham balls and Iowa Made-Rites. What are some of your favorite recipes using ground pork? What secret sauces or culinary tips or tricks using ground pork can we share with consumers to keep them coming back to ground pork in the meat case?
Alfa had people all over the state submit their favorite BBQ restaurants. There were more than 100 restaurants on the list. The top four places got a visit from a team a judges to see which meat and sauce tasted the best. In the end, you could say, the competition didn’t want the smoke.
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Officials on Friday morning prepare to announce a new beef processing plant in Jerome.
Colin Tiernan
JEROME — A beef processing company announced Friday it plans to open a new plant in Jerome that will employee 400 workers when it opens.
Agri Beef already owns a mid-sized processor in Washington and has operated feedlots in Idaho since 1968. It also owns the Double R Ranch and Snake River Farms brands.
The Jerome plant, which will operate as True West Beef, will process 500 head of cattle a day, it said at a ceremony at the Jerome airport. That compares to 5,000 head a day for one of the giant plants.
The company said its average workers will make $52,000 per year.
The company said the new plant will be smaller and flexible in scale and unique in structure, with livestock producers directly involved in equity ownership of the True West facility.
“We evaluated many sites for this venture,"Agri Beef Executive Vice President of Business Development Wade Small said in a statement. "With an educated and motivated workforce, access to plentiful agricultural resources, and a vibrant community with a can-do spirit, Jerome and Idaho checked the box for everything we were looking for.”
This is a breaking story, return to Magicvalley.com for updates.
Reuters reports that the USDA logged wholesale ham prices on 30 July at $55.11 per cwt, a drop from $68.62 on 27 July.
"If there was one item that was strong, it was hams for July. But that ... seems to have hit a wall," said Altin Kalo, an economist with Steiner Consulting.
CME October lean hog futures settled down 1.500 cents at 48.325 cents per pound.
Traders shrugged off strong weekly pork export data. The USDA reported export sales of 2020 US pork in the week to 23 July at 39,600 tonnes, up 12 percent from the prior four-week average. Sales to top global buyer China totalled 17,800 tonnes and pork shipments to China totalled 10,200 tonnes.
Enacted by Congress in 1985, the beef check off was approved by cattle producers voting in the initial referendum held in 1988. That was 32 years ago and it is the only time ranchers have had an opportunity to vote on the mandatory check off we are required to pay every time we sell cattle. Let that sink in. In the more than 30-year lifespan of the mandatory tax on our cattle the only chance we’ve had to express our approval or disapproval of the $1 per head assessment was 18 months after collections began. The question all cattle producers should be asking themselves is this: has the check off increased returns to producers like you who are assessed? There can be no responsibility where there is no accountability. A referendum will provide accountability. The I-BAND board of directors fully supports the petition-drive currently underway that seeks a producer referendum on the beef check off.
During the 1988 referendum, there were roughly one million potential cattle producer voters. It was reported that just 256,505 voted. Of those, 202,408 voted “yes.” Thus, the check off that producers have paid for more than three decades was approved by just 20 percent of all U.S. cattle producers in 1988. For the next seven years, beef check off proceeds was invested by the Beef Industry Council of the National Live Stock and Meat Board. Funneling the beef check off funds through the non-political Meat Board and insulating the check off from policy was the arrangement producers understood when they voted in the initial referendum. The Meat Board’s successes with the check off are often attributed to the check off being kept as distant from industry policy as humanly possible.
But then the circumstances under which the beef check off was sold to producers in 1988 changed. In 1996, the National Cattlemen’s Association merged with the National Live Stock and Meat Board creating the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA). The merger that moved the beef check off (that we pay) into the arms of a policy organization was fought long and hard by the National Live Stock and Meat Board because members rightfully feared the effect of politicizing the check off. In the end, the National Cattlemen’s Association prevailed and the Meat Board reluctantly agreed to the merger by a single vote. The merger received final approval by just 774 voters present at the National Cattlemen’s Association’s 1996 meeting.
As check off-paying stakeholders we weren’t told in 1988 that the beef check off would become part of a tangled web of bureaucracy where board seats would be part of a complicated pay-to-play scheme utilizing check off money to purchase those board seats. We weren’t told that our check off would one day employ staff shared with a policy outfit where the check off would pay more than 70 percent of the policy organization’s total staff salaries including half of the chief executive’s lucrative employment deal. We weren’t told that half of the 20-member Operating Committee, which controls the check off purse strings, would be appointed by a branch of NCBA. We weren’t told that our check off dollars would not be allowed to promote our U.S. beef but would instead be used to promote a generic product that includes foreign beef. We weren’t told that the beef check off was really government speech, an argument USDA and the Cattlemen’s Beef Board eagerly made when the constitutionality of commodity check offs was challenged in court. We weren’t told that the majority contractor for our check off dollars, NCBA, would oppose country of origin labeling (COOL), going so far as to join Canada and Mexico in a lawsuit against COOL and lobby for repeal of COOL in the U.S. Congress. Sadly, cattle producers weren’t told a lot of things.
NCBA argued recently, as it has in the past, that a referendum would be too expensive and would cost an estimated $250,000. Based on the number of votes in the initial 1988 referendum, that pencils out to about one dollar per vote. This is the same NCBA that spent nearly $500,000 in check off money giving away traditional beef cut names to pork. When the cut name give-away deal was completed the Pork Board suggested publicly that retailers could exploit those names by riding the coattails of a reputation built by beef and beef alone and charge higher prices for a pork chop newly renamed a rib eye.
Producers will hear in the coming days and weeks that the Beef Board conducts producer surveys on a regular basis and the Beef Board will argue that those surveys, which are weighted and stratified, are a sufficient replacement for a producer vote. We couldn’t disagree more. There is NO replacement for our right to vote.
After 32 years, it’s time for a producer referendum on the beef check off. We are willing to live with the results as long as producers have a fair opportunity to express themselves. If it’s true, as NCBA regularly argues, that 72 percent of America’s cattle producers favor the beef check off, what does NCBA have to lose? All we’re asking for is the right to vote. And that’s something that is as American as it gets.
Dozens of impressive showmen and exceptional cattle made up Thursday’s market beef show at the Scotts Bluff County Fair.
“I think there is just a lot of community support for these kids, their parents and their backgrounds growing up here,” Judge Tyler Keener said, describing the cattle shown as an impressive display of hard work.
In Keener’s 20-plus years of judging, he said the cattle brought to Thursday’s show were exceptional, to say the least. In comparison to shows across the state, he said he continues to be impressed by the showmen and their livestock in Scotts Bluff County.
The high-quality livestock and tough competition is not only appreciated by judges, but showmen alike.
“There is a lot of competition here and it makes it a lot of fun,” Morrill/Mitchell FFA member Ty Krebs said.
A former swine showman, Krebs said his experience showing cattle for the first time was exciting, due to the competitive spirit brought by FFA and 4-H’ers.
Krebs said after his first experience of showing cattle at this year’s fair, he is looking forward to the competition in the years to come.
Keener awarded a number of champions at Thursday’s market beef show, including the grand and reserve champion 4-H market beef animal, the grand and reserve champion FFA market beef animal and the 2020 overall grand and reserve champions of Scotts Bluff County.
The market beef show consisted of divisions dedicated to heifers and steers — crossbred, pure breed and other breeds — then narrowing down to the judges' number one overall picks.
On Thursday, Keener awarded the 2020 Scotts Bluff County Grand Champion title to Daniel Young and the Scotts Bluff County Reserve Champion title to FFA member Sydney Huckfeldt. The grand champion 4-H beef title was awarded to Daniel Young and reserve grand champion 4-H title was awarded to Luke Hessler. The grand champion FFA beef title was awarded to Sydney Huckfeldt and the reserve FFA title awarded to MarLee Neu.
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FILE PHOTO: Piglets look out from a fence at Cabanas Argentinas del Sol pig farm in Marcos Paz
By Maximilian Heath and Hallie Gu
BUENOS AIRES/BEIJING (Reuters) - Argentina is nearing an initial agreement with China that could pave for the way for potential investments by the Asian giant in local pork production for export, Argentina's undersecretary of trade and investment promotion told Reuters.
That could eventually lead to Chinese-backed hog farms in the South American nation more famed for its cattle-rearing grasslands, at a time when Beijing is looking to diversify pork supply after domestic farms were hit hard by African swine flu.
Pablo Sivori said a memorandum of understanding could be signed with China in the coming weeks. The country's foreign minister Felipe Sola said earlier this month Chinese investment could help Argentina massively increase pork output.
"We have already agreed on the content of the memorandum," Sivori said, adding that the foreign ministry had asked the Chinese government to sign the document virtually.
He added the planned MOU came after a process initiated by the private sector, and would involve frameworks for investment in Argentina, along with cooperation in areas of health, scientific and technological research related to the sector.
Argentina is already a major beef supplier to China, but a bit-part player in the global pork market. According to official data, in 2019 it produced 630,000 tons of pork, of which just 34,000 tons were exported.
However, the prospect of Chinese interest has sparked wild dreams of growth possibilities. Foreign Minister Sola said this month that Argentina could produce a lofty 9 million tons of pork with Chinese backing, over 14 times current levels.
In March, Beijing urged China's pork companies to invest in supply chains abroad to import due to the devastating effects of the African swine fever on Chinese herds.
China's agriculture and commerce ministries did not respond to requests seeking comment.
Lisandro Culasso, head of the Argentine Association of Pig Producers (AAPP) there was "Chinese interest" in the country, though any investments would depend on the signing of a memorandum between the two countries.
Experts on both sides however threw cold water on the idea Argentine pork production could scale-up quickly.
Sivori said sanitary production measures established by local authorities would need be followed, meaning the country could only gradually double production within around four years.
An executive with a Chinese firm that has invested in animal farming sector overseas added that Argentina was a "quite risky" place to invest given local market volatility and the physical distance with China that would make shipping live pigs tricky.
"It is more feasible to ship frozen pork than live pigs for sure, but that also means you need to have a more extensive production chain there, and manage labor-intensive slaughterhouses in Argentina," he said.
"Just the idea alone can drive you crazy."
(Reporting by Maximilian Heath in Buenos Aires and Hallie Gu in Beijing; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Alistair Bell)
The Brush Lions Club will hold the Pork Burger Fry at the Morgan County Fair on Monday, Aug. 3, according to club member Marc Tormohlen in an internal email shared with The Fort Morgan Times.
The Morgan County Fair Board previously had announced that it was cancelled and then updated it’s information to say say that it was going ahead.
“The Brush Lions Club WILL be selling pork burgers and associated items on Monday evening, August 3rd, during the hog show. Find them in the Mark Arndt Event Center and please practice social distancing while in line and while eating! Thank you, Brush Lions, for continuing your long-standing tradition!!” the Morgan County Fair Board posted Aug. 23 on its Facebook page.
Due to production deadlines that were set before this update, information printed in a special section in The Times about the Morgan County Fair said it was cancelled.
The Brush Lions Club wanted to further clarify that the annual Pork Burgers event is moving forward, albeit with some changes from previous years.
Tormohlen’s email stated, “we will be doing the pork burger fry at the fair again, Monday, Aug. 3, however it will be a bit different this year because of the virus.”
Those changes include how and where it will be served.
“We will only be cooking burgers and having chips, brownies and drinks,” Tormohlen said. “We will be cooking outside the kitchen of the event center and serving from the kitchen. We will be serving people individual meals, not a buffet style line like in the past.”
Also, the Brush Lions will not have the help of 4-H members at the Pork Burger Fry, but there will be several 4-H leaders assisting them, according to Tormohlen’s email.
The club recently voted to donate 50% of the net profit to the Morgan County 4-H Leaders Advisory Committee, according to an internal Lions Club email from member Tom Hofmann shared with The Times.
Like many things with this year’s Morgan County Fair, there will be changes with how the Pork Burger Fry happens, but the point is that it is happening.
“There is a lot of uncertainty about how this will go so we will have to be flexible and have a good time,” Tormohlen said in the email.
The plan is for food to start being served to members of the public around 4:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 3, from the kitchen in the Mark Arndt Event Center at the Morgan County Fairgrounds in Brush.
WASHINGTON, July 30, 2020 – JBS Food Canada ULC, a Brooks, Alberta, Canada establishment, is recalling approximately 38,406 pounds of boneless beef head meat products that were not presented for import re-inspection into the United States, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today.
The raw, frozen, boneless beef head meat items were imported on July 13, 2020 and were further processed by another company into ground beef products. The following products are subject to recall: [View Labels (PDF only)]
80-lb. boxes containing eight, 10-lb. chubs of “BALTER MEAT COMPANY 73/27 GROUND BEEF,” with “USE BY/FREEZE BY” dates of 08/09/2020 or 08/10/2020, pack dates of 072020, 072120, or 072220, and lot codes of 2020A or 2030A represented on the label.
The products subject to recall bear establishment number “EST. 11126” inside the USDA mark of inspection. These items were shipped to distribution centers in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, for further distribution to retail locations.
The problem was discovered when FSIS determined through routine surveillance that the product had by-passed FSIS import reinspection.
There have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products. Anyone concerned about a reaction should contact a healthcare provider.
FSIS is concerned that some product may be in consumers’ refrigerators or freezers. Consumers who have purchased these products are urged not to consume them. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase.
FSIS routinely conducts recall effectiveness checks to verify recalling firms notify their customers of the recall and that steps are taken to make certain that the product is no longer available to consumers. When available, the retail distribution list(s) will be posted on the FSIS website at https://www.fsis.usda.gov/recalls.
Consumers with questions about the recall can contact the JBS USA Consumer Hotline at (800) 727-2333. Members of the media with questions about the recall can contact Cameron Bruett, Sustainability & Corporate Communications, JBS USA, at (970) 506-7801 or cameron.bruett@jbssa.com.
Consumers with food safety questions can call the toll-free USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline at 1-888-MPHotline (1-888-674-6854) or live chat via Ask USDA from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. (Eastern Time) Monday through Friday. Consumers can also browse food safety messages at Ask USDA or send a question via email to MPHotline@usda.gov. For consumers that need to report a problem with a meat, poultry, or egg product, the online Electronic Consumer Complaint Monitoring System can be accessed 24 hours a day at https://foodcomplaint.fsis.usda.gov/eCCF/.
Maybe you’re a Keto devotee, or perhaps you just like the chewy, satisfying texture of high-protein beef jerky as your quick snack between back-to-back meetings. Either way, beef jerky (the word comes from ch’arki, which an indigenous Andean people used around 1500 to mean dried, salted beef) is everywhere from highway rest stops to fancy artisanal gourmet shops.
To be sure, not all dried meat is jerky (biltong, for instance, is a South African dried beef that’s processed differently) and lots of proteins can be dried and cured—game meat, chicken or turkey, even salmon or soy or even jackfruit.
But there’s something to be said for the old-fashioned smoky-tasting imagine-you're-a-cowboy beef variety. Aside from sliding perfectly into paleo and all iterations of the low-carb diet, meat offers necessary nutrients, says Good Housekeeping’s registered dietician Stefani Sassos, MS, RDN, CSO, CDN. “Meat in general is rich not only in protein, but also in vitamins and minerals such as zinc and iron,” she says. Plus, unlike most protein snacks like hardboiled eggs, cheese or cold cuts, “jerky is a portable, on-the-go protein option that also typically has a long shelf life.” It’s usually made from leaner cuts of beef, which keeps saturated fat relatively low, she says.
Still, you don’t want to make jerky an every-single-day thing, says Sassos. Jerky can be extremely salty (most of us eat almost 50% more sodium than we should each day) and many brands and flavors of jerky have loads of added sugar. Plus, processed, cured meats of any kind (including salami and bacon) may increase your risk of certain cancers, including colorectal cancer, says Sassos.
That said, if you're a jerky person, you are powerless against the cravings. Luckily, Sassos says a jerky break a couple of times a week is fine, although, she favors chicken or turkey jerky because they have even less saturated fat. Whichever jerky you choose, “Aim for 400mg sodium or less per serving,” she says, and be on the lookout for too much added sugar. “I would max out at 8 grams of sugar per serving of jerky, which is the equivalent of two teaspoons.” Grass-fed and organic beef are always a plus, and you should skip synthetic nitrates and MSG. “Take a look at the ingredients list and make sure it includes only ingredients that you can say and pronounce—protein source, seasonings, some salt, but that’s about it! Ingredients that just don’t make sense on the label are high fructose corn syrup or additives,” she adds.
There are dozens of beef jerky brands, and if you want to compare and contrast, there are even subscription boxes (we like Craft Jerky Co, which works with small-batch makers) that’ll send you a curated collection every month. (Who even knew?) Below, some of the best beef jerky brands we’ve found, all of which meet GH's criteria.
1Umami Beef Jerky
Prevail Beef Jerkyprevailjerky.com
$7.99
Testers liked that Prevail had interesting flavors, they weren't so overwhelming. The Umami was chewy (not too hard in texture) and just the right amount of sweet and smoky, while the Lemongrass was subtly in the Thai zone. Also cool: The brand uses 100% grass-fed beef, and coconut sugar (the Original flavor has 4g/serving), which is good for paleo dieters. And for those with allergies and sensitivities, it is also gluten-free, safe for celiac sufferers, soy-free and cane sugar-free too, with no added hormones, no added nitrates or preservatives.
2Grass-Fed Beef Jerky
Country Archer Provisionscountryarcher.com
$5.99
This brand has a bunch of zero-sugar versions of their grass-fed, no MSG, no nitrites or nitrates beef jerkies. This pleased one hard core low-carber, who favored the Classic, but also loved the Mustard BBQ flavor. This brand has a dryer, stringier texture (if that's your jam) and the garlic and spices give it a natural, not chemical taste. And while the Teriyaki had a bit of sugar (5g per serving) the less carb-conscious tasters appreciated the sweet, ginger-pineapple taste.
3Lime and Serrano Pepper Beef Jerky (pack of 4)
BAJA BEEFamazon.com
$11.99
If you're falling asleep at your desk, one bite of the tasty Lime and Serrano Pepper flavor will have you up and possibly running to the water cooler (it has a heat rating of 7). With only 3 grams of sugar and 11g of protein in its no-added-hormones, no nitrites or nitrates beef, Baja brand is well worth a nosh.
4Beef Jerky (pound bag)
People's Choiceamazon.com
$29.99
With only 3 grams of sugar and 10 grams of protein, People's Choice's Garlic Ginger flavor has a sophisticated natural taste that's not sweet, but is definitely moist. The brand's Carne Seca Limon Con Chile (a zero sugar option), by contrast, is ropey, rustic and tart.
5Smoked Beef Chipotle Cracked Pepper Jerky
Chef's Cutamazon.com
$8.22
So there's a lot going on with the Chipotle Cracked Pepper flavor here. First of all, it's smokey, but also sweet, but also spicy, but also... that's probably because there's horseradish and molasses and green tea extract on the ingredient list, in addition to some of the usual suspects, and the whole situation is slow smoked. Feels like a meal when you eat it.
6Grass-Fed Sweet Chipotle Beef Jerky (5 pack)
Think Jerkyamazon.com
$20.99
One happy snacker referred to the Sweet Chipotle flavor as "an excellent dessert jerky," because of its relatively sweet taste, and said it had "great flavor, good texture," on the smooth side with a hint of berry. This one does hit Sassos's ceiling for sugar (8g per serving) but with 16 g of protein, it's a yummy trade-off.
7O.G Hickory Beef Jerky
Righteous Felon Craft Jerkyrighteousfelon.com
$5.49
This line features cow criminal mug shots on every packet, but our tasters found that the baddest of the bunch was the O.G. Hickory, which was exactly smoky enough with a perfect texture (which kept your mouth busy longer than usual, a plus, according to one tester.)
8Thinly Sliced Beef (pack of 4)
Kalahari Biltongamazon.com
$29.99
So, biltong looks like jerky and is as easy to toss in your purse as jerky, but it isn't jerky—this South African dried meat is marinated and then air dried, versus smoked or heated and flavored. The result is that it tastes more like meat and less like everything else — simpler, really, but with more protein (32 g per serving!) and no sugar. It is, however, a big salt hit, so you’ll want to cut back elsewhere during your day of eating. Tasters argued over which was better, Garlic or Peri Peri flavor. In the end they took their bags to their corners and finished them.
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Yesterday, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on World Trade Organization (WTO) reform. There were a number of big picture points discussed, such as the role of WTO dispute settlement and the failure to negotiate new WTO agreements in recent years, but there’s a narrower point that I want to discuss here. Some people seem to think there was a WTO dispute settlement ruling that says one of the following two things: (1) U.S. beef can’t be labelled with its country or origin when it is for sale in stores, or (2) that the U.S. government can’t require beef to be labelled with its country or origin. Sometimes it can be hard to sort out which point they are making, but it doesn’t matter because neither one of those things is true. (This issue comes up every few months on Twitter, and I figure if I explain it thoroughly here, I can just point people to this blog post in the future.)
The issue arose yesterday when Senator Thune stated the following (1:21:16 and then 1:24:39 of the linked video):
In many parts of my home state of South Dakota, and probably some in your home state of Iowa Mr. Chairman, WTO is a bad word.
That’s because South Dakota ranchers feel like the WTO isn’t with them. And I would say, who can blame them, when the WTO has ruled against them in major disputes impacting their livelihoods like the country of origin labelling case.
Still to this day, it makes no sense to most South Dakotans why the t‐shirt they wear can say made in country Y but in most instances the beef that they eat cannot.
…
It is very hard to explain why some products that come into the United States are labelled accordingly, but for something that we consume, that we eat, we can’t seem to get a ruling that recognizes that people in this country would like to know where in the world their beef is coming from.
I can see why that would be hard to explain, but it’s not what happened in the WTO disputes brought by Canada and Mexico over country of origin labelling. Let me explain what actually happened.
After failed attempts by the U.S. industry to get anti‐dumping and countervailing duties imposed on live cattle imports from Canada and Mexico, the industry was able to convince Congress to pass a country of origin labelling statute that was written in such a way that it could serve the purpose of discriminating against those imports. Under the statute, retailers (e.g. grocery stores) would have to include information on the product label about where the cattle was born, raised, and slaughtered (the statute also applied to pork products, but I’m going to focus on beef here). In order to fulfill this requirement, the stores needed the relevant information on origin from the upstream producers, which was costly for the producers to gather when part of their production relied on imports (if they only used U.S. cattle, the record‐keeping was much easier). The statute itself was worded vaguely enough that it was not completely clear how it would apply, but when the regulations were developed and implemented, it was clear that there would be an extra cost involved where imports made up part of the production. Sometimes that cost was so high that it made financial sense to shift to using only domestic products.
In response to this, Canada and Mexico brought a complaint at the WTO, basically arguing that the measure discriminated against their products through the extra costs it imposed on the use of their (imported) products. On the basis of the evidence presented, when the panel hearing the case looked at the part of the U.S. statute/regulation dealing with muscle cuts of beef, it found that discrimination existed. On appeal, the WTO’s Appellate Body agreed.
The U.S. then amended the regulation, but not enough to change the impact. The new regulation was also found to be in violation by the panel and then also by the Appellate Body, for the same reasons.
At that point, Canada and Mexico obtained authorization, through a WTO arbitration, to retaliate with trade sanctions. In response, Congress repealed the statute. (The United States could have just accepted the retaliation as a way to rebalance the obligations under the WTO agreements while leaving the statute in place, but it decided that repeal was the better option.)
Now let me mention a couple key takeaways. First, the WTO panel/Appellate Body rulings do not say that labelling requirements always violate the rules. They simply looked at this particular requirement, carefully considered its design, and found that it violates the rules because of the way it discriminates against imports. There were plenty of ways to structure such a labelling requirement so that it didn’t discriminate against imports. In fact, the first panel looking at the issues here found that the labelling requirement that applies to ground beef (as opposed to muscle cuts of beef) does not violate the rules.
Second, depending on where you shop, you are probably well aware that labelling on beef products is common. A store like Whole Foods indicates the origin of its products, and often does so in more useful ways than the statute here required. “Product of the United States” was one of the categories under the statute, but that is pretty broad and I’m not sure how valuable it is. Whole Foods sometimes tells you the specific farm the beef comes from, which seems much more useful if you really want to know something about how the product has been made.
Summing up, the explanation to Senator Thune and any others is, companies are always free to put origin labels on beef if they want to. That was not at issue at all in the WTO dispute. And the WTO does not prohibit governments from requiring such labels (although it’s not at all clear to me how many people want such labels to be required if it means they have to pay more for the beef, which they will!). What the WTO does prohibit is using domestic regulations as a disguised way of protecting your domestic industry from foreign competition.
Beef-Lentil Burgers. Image courtesy of Pulse Canada.
Winnipeg, Manitoba—Lentils and beef are a people- and environment-friendly combination, according to a new study funded by Lentils.org and Pulse Canada.
The study performed a life cycle assessment to evaluate the environmental impact of a beef burger made with 33% cooked lentil puree. It found that the blend reduces the carbon footprint, water footprint, and land-use footprint by about 33%, and noted that lentils are carbon negative—they remove more greenhouse gases from the atmosphere than they emit during their production.
“With an estimated one-third of Americans identifying as ‘flexitarian,’ people are looking for ways to incorporate more plant protein into their diets while still enjoying animal products,” said Amber Johnson, Director of Marketing and Communications at Lentils.org. “A lentil blend offers consumers a chance to align preferences with aspirations.”
The blended burger also had an altered nutritional content: It contained 3 extra grams of fiber, 12% fewer calories, 32% less saturated and total fats, and 32% less cholesterol per 4oz serving.
The blended burger was also 26% cheaper to produce.
“Reformulating foods can not only lower costs while enhancing nutrition, it can make a significant impact on the environment,” said Denis Trémorin, PAg, MSc, Director of Sustainability at Pulse Canada, in the press release. “A 33% reduction in key environmental measures goes a long way toward meeting sustainability goals.”
The study used environmental impact data for U.S. beef based on national averages; data for lentils was drawn from a specific farming region in Canada. Trémorin explained: “We know that greenhouse gas emissions, water, and land use vary dramatically depending on production regions and practices, making it very important to have ingredient data that is ecosystem specific. Ensuring common measurements and accuracy of data will be key as we see more communication and marketing around the environmental impacts of food.”
“We’re seeing a rise in interest in meat products enhanced with plant protein,” says Johnson. “On the manufacturing side, this study is just one example of how formulation changes can have a massive effect on food products. Blends like the lentil-beef burger can provide manufacturers with an opportunity to develop a whole host of blended food products, such as meatballs, meatloaf, pasta sauce and more.”
Forget about why the chicken crossed the road. The pertinent question when it comes to Seneca Farms, an iconic eatery in the heart of the Finger Lakes, is: How does a restaurant become famous for its fried chicken and its ice cream?
Joe Trombley, who has owned the red-and-white restaurant on Route 54A just south of the Yates County village of Penn Yan since 1976, laughs at the question. Yes, he admits, it’s an odd combination, but it works. Oh boy, does it work.
The place had been a dairy since the 1950s when Joe and his father bought it four-plus decades ago, so the ice cream part was only natural.
“It was always a dairy and they delivered milk and made their own ice cream, and then over the years, they just started buying Perry’s ice cream and selling that,” says Joe’s daughter Nitosha Fingar. “When they bought it, Dad decided that everyone was doing Perry’s. So, there was a course you could take at Penn State to make your own ice cream. He went and took that, then started doing the homemade ice cream here.”
Joe corroborates his daughter’s story, saying he took the class so that he wouldn’t be locked into dishing out the same brand of ice cream that everyone else around town was selling.
“Perry’s made me mad because they were selling to everybody in town,” he says. “I started thinking that I would never make it if I didn’t make my own. It was the best decision I ever made.”
As for the fried chicken? That came after a kitchen was added in 1978 and a menu was being developed.
“We tried many recipes and this last recipe seems to really be working, and how the combination (of ice cream and chicken) started, it wasn’t my actual idea at the time, but it just worked,” Joe says.
He says “this last recipe seems to be working” like they just hit on it last week, but, in reality, it came after various trials and errors, mostly variations of recipes from family and friends. He won’t give up the secret to the rock star fried chicken, which is crispy on the outside, moist on the inside, and loaded with tons of flavor, other than to say it’s beer-battered fresh every day with a tasty blend of herbs and spices.
“It’s really hard to say more without telling you the whole thing,” Joe says with a laugh.
Fair enough.
As for that ice cream, in addition to the fresh fruits, nuts, and fudges that flavor it, it is made with cream that has a higher percentage of butterfat than most, making it creamier and richer. There is soft ice cream and hard ice cream, about two dozen regular varieties with a handful of rotating seasonal ones, it is hand-swirled, and made on premises—about 900 gallons a week in the heat of the summer.
Seneca Farms—located near Indian Pines Park and lovely Keuka Lake—is not just chicken and ice cream, however. Tiffany Phillips, Joe’s other daughter, who co-manages the place with Nitosha as Joe phases himself out, ticks off a list of other top-selling items: handmade burgers (with beef from the village’s popular Morgan’s Grocery), Hoffman hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, corn fritters, macaroni and other salads (many of which are their grandparents’ recipes), and chicken fingers.
Wait, what? Corn fritters? In upstate New York?
Joe, a Penn Yan Academy grad, was living in Florida when he and his father learned that Seneca Farms was available for sale. While developing a menu, Joe recalled food from his Florida days. “There was a place that sold chicken and corn fritters, and I thought to myself, ‘We should sell corn fritters, no one else has them.’”
“People come from all over to get the corn fritters,” Tiffany says. “They take them home in the winter and freeze them; they make corn fritter sundaes. They love them.”
They must love the rest of what’s available at Seneca Farms, too, as people come here from all over. The grounds include an outdoor pavilion and about a dozen round picnic tables topped with red-and-white umbrellas. On a steamy summer day, license plates in the parking lot were from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, and Florida (maybe there to check out the corn fritters?). Meanwhile, a constant line of vehicles snaked around the building, their occupants loading up on food and ice cream at the pickup window, which happened to be the first drive-through window in the region.
And no feature on Seneca Farms would be complete without mention of its extensive collection of Coca-Cola memorabilia—everything from chandeliers, mirrors, and posters to Coke-can-crafted toy cars, trucks, and airplanes hanging from the ceiling. That started with Joe buying some items to accent the restaurant’s red-and-white colors; it spread to the customers, who have donated numerous trinkets over the years. The Coke motif really exploded after a fire in 2005 almost destroyed the business. Joe rebuilt it bigger and better than ever—especially the kitchen—and the result was even more business and more Coke items.
“Because we lost so much, people were bringing us boxes of their Coca-Cola collections,” Nitosha says. “Coke themselves donated some stuff. Somebody wrote into them about our fire, and they sent us a whole bunch of stuff.”
So, a family-run joint for over four decades—Nitosha and Tiffany both started working there when they were about twelve and have a combined fifty-three years in now with children of their own who are helping these days—that has built an incredible reputation behind the unlikely combo of killer ice cream, scrumptious fried chicken, and corn fritters can also pass as a bit of a Coca-Cola museum.
Open from the first Thursday in March to the last weekend in October, if you are exploring the Finger Lakes—and especially Keuka Lake—make Seneca Farms one of your stops. You can also find Seneca Farms at senecafarmsny.com, or call (315) 536-4066.
