Benchmarking Cruelty: National Beef Quality Audit Finds Increase in Diseased, Stressed, and Bruised Animals

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Results from the most recent Canadian Cattlemen’s Association’s National Beef Quality Audit conducted from 2009 to 2011 were announced in the June/July issue of Canadian Cattlemen magazine. 

Audits were conducted three times prior: in 1995 to determine a baseline; from 1998 to 1999; and in 2001. Statistics gathered revealed a variety of “quality defects” in beef carcasses. These defects provide a glimpse into the handling, health, and welfare of Canadian cattle.

Slaughterhouses in both western and eastern Canada participated in the latest audit. The plants surveyed are responsible for more than 75 percent of the cattle killed in Canada, so the findings are considered representative of the industry.

Three findings of the audit are particularly alarming, yet received barely a passing mention in the magazine’s back-patting article:

1. The percentage of animals with liver abscesses was significantly higher than in previous audits. In this most recent audit, 9.9 percent of cattle livers examined fell into the most extreme assessment category (oddly called “A+”) of exhibiting one or more large, active abscesses with inflammation of the liver tissue. In 1999, 2 percent of cattle were affected to this extent. 

2. The percentage of dark-cutting beef carcasses was markedly higher. “Dark cutters” exhibit purplish-black flesh rather than red. The condition has been linked to acute or chronic stress before killing. Examples of such stress include transportation, rough handling, and extended periods without food or water.

3. The percentage of “non-fed” animals (i.e., culled breeding beef and dairy cattle) with bruises was significantly higher. In this latest audit, 85.7 percent of breeding cattle had bruises so large they had to be cut out, an increase from the 76.4 percent discovered in 1999. Bruising can result from rough handling, slamming gates, steep loading and unloading ramps, overcrowding on livestock trucks, and poor driving en route to the slaughterhouse.

Additionally, the audit notes that the increase in liver abscesses is largely due to feeding grains to cattle, which is particularly common on feedlots. According to TheBeefSite.com, grains are difficult for cattle to digest and also lead to acidosis, which creates lesions in the stomach wall.

What this means to the animals themselves is that intestinal gas is produced in quantities too high to pass. The accumulating gas puts pressure on the animals’ diaphragms and lungs, making breathing difficult and painful. Some animals develop rapidly swelling sides and show their suffering by kicking at their sides or stomping their feet. Some of these animals die from the condition (a survey by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada reported that one-third of beef cattle deaths were caused by acidosis).

Feeding grains to cattle increases populations of the bacteria Fusobacterium necrophorum as well, leading to stomach wall abscesses, inflammation, and tissue death. This bacteria travels to the liver via the bloodstream and causes abscesses.

The audit further states that these defects cost the beef industry nearly $200 million annually, yet profit gains from current animal handling practices outweigh the losses. True to industry form, the focus is on consumer satisfaction and its own bottom line, with little to no regard for the suffering of the animals themselves.

You can let Canada’s beef producers know that you don’t support their cruel practices by adopting a compassionate plant-based diet. Go to ChooseVeg.ca to learn how.