Center for Meat Safety & Quality

• Food safety assistance for small meat and poultry processors through development and implementation of industry best practices
• Comparison of United States and European Union meat inspection and plant sanitation systems and regulations
• Development of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) systems for assurance of meat safety by packers and processors
• Identification of procedures and interventions to prevent contamination of beef products with prions of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE)
• Evaluation of chemical decontamination treatments for meat products against E. coli O157:H7, non-O157 Shiga toxin-producing E. coli, and antibiotic resistant and susceptible
• Salmonella Typhimurium and Salmonella Newport; Evaluation of the effectiveness of FreshCase® technology to extend the shelf-life of whole muscle pork, ground pork sausage, muscle beef and ground beef
• Use of a high throughput screening approach to identify novel chemical compounds that control foodborne pathogens and evaluation of these compounds to reduce pathogens in foods
• Development of USDA performance standards
• Nutrient database improvement research – analysis of collected rib and plate cuts, beef loin and round cuts, as well as quantifying the “aging response” for muscles of the beef round
• Comparison of beef carcass grade standards and application among the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Uruguay
• Direct and indirect contacts among livestock operations in Colorado, Kansas, and New Mexico as potential transmitters of Foot and Mouth Disease
• Relationships of USDA camera-based quality grades to beef palatability attributes; Colorado beef quality assurance program.

The CMSQ team works with cattlemen, cattle feeders, meat packers, processors and retailers on issues related to foreign animal disease, meatborne pathogens, quality/palatability/shelf-life, value-determining characteristics, export-market access, traceability and meat-waste disposal. Our industry and government collaborations include:

• National Pork Board, National Meat Association
• National Cattlemen’s Beef Association
• AMS-USDA
• Southwest Meat Association
• American Meat Science Association
• National Institute for Animal Agriculture
• American Association of Meat Processors
• National Renderers Association
• APHIS-USDA, FSIS-USDA
• U.S. Meat Export Federation
• FDA-USDHHS and American Meat Institute