CLA enhanced beef

[grassfarmer]

Does anyone have more information on this announcement about CLA enhanced beef that was made on Friday?
The rumor I hear is that this project is not about fattening cattle on grass to enhance CLAs but is instead something the packers would inject into the beef after slaughter (Possibly derived from grass fed slaughter cows)
And to think my resolution that ABP lobby the Government to fund further research into grass based beef production fell on deaf ears.

"GOVERNMENT OF CANADA INVESTS OVER $300,000 TO BOOST HEALTH BENEFITS OF BEEF

CALGARY, Alberta, December 14, 2007 – The Government of Canada is investing $305,792 towards bringing to the marketplace Canadian beef enhanced with bioactive lipids considered to be beneficial to human health. The announcement was made today by James Bezan, Member of Parliament for Selkirk–Interlake, on behalf of the Honourable Gerry Ritz, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food and Minister for the Canadian Wheat Board.

"This project will not only help open a new lucrative market niche for Canadian beef farmers but it will also provide Canadians with healthier food," said Mr. Bezan. "The Government of Canada is committed to supporting agriculture innovation as key to the sector’s profitability and competitiveness."

This Canadian Cattlemen’s Association (CCA) led project will focus on the development of a strategic business plan for a commercialization pilot program featuring beef containing beneficial fatty acids. These fatty acids, such as Omega 3 and Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA), are known to help reduce the risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity. This is an essential first step in taking on the challenge of establishing bioactive lipid-enriched beef as a successful food product in Canada, much in the same way egg producers have developed and marketed Omega 3 eggs.

In addition to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) funds, the project will receive an estimated $96,000 of in-kind contributions through industry stakeholders.

"This is the type of government programming that allows groups like the CCA and the Beef Information Centre to work on innovative projects to help put dollars into the pockets of the Canadian cattle industry and offer additional value to our consumers," said Hugh Lynch-Staunton, CCA President. "The practices that increase the health benefits of beef are environmentally responsible, decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing biodiversity."

The project involves all the key players from the beef industry value chain to ensure the most effective and successful production, processing and marketing of biolipid enriched beef onto the consumer’s plate.

[wilagro]

The project involves all the key players from the beef industry value chain to ensure the most effective and successful production, processing and marketing of bio-lipid enriched beef onto the consumer’s plate.
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Why not just eat 'grass-fed' beef...it is naturally 'bio-lipid enhanced'? This is all gobbledygook gimmicky crapola IMHO. The consumer will PAY more for these enhanced products for how long????? Beef is a bit different than omega-3 enhanced eggs.

When I was a kid, all we ever ate were omega-3 enhanced eggs. They came from chickens on free range GRASS. The yolks were ORANGE coloured. the city cousins didn't like them as they were not YELLOW.

Now if we are going to sell beef fattened in feedlots and having nice white fat, and then injected with a substance to ARTIFICIALLY create a pseudo omega-3 enhanced product then I say BULL. It ain't a gonna work once consumers KNOW what is involved...especially when they have to pay MORE for a chemically enhanced product that THEY didn't ask for.

[PureCountry]

Well said wilagro. This scam reminds of a jug of milk - "Vitamin D Added". Instead of allowing people the free choice of buying whole, raw milk from farmers, we'll ban it, then pasteurize the milk, then "chemically enhance" it by adding the vitamin D back in.

Farmer: "But Mr. Politician, raw milk already has Vitamin D. As does grass-fed pork, grass-fed beef, grass-fed chickens and many other products we raise."

Mr. Politician: "Are your comments backed by sound science?"

Farmer: "Yes sir they are."

Mr. Politician: "Thank you Ladies and Gentlemen, that will be all for today, I havea meeting or something to get to."



When does this crap end? When we think we can improve on Mother Nature's model, we just keep destroying it.

[farmers_son]

I thought we needed the following definitions which seem to from the same web site as the quote in the original post:

http://news.gc.ca/web/view/en/index.jsp?articleid=368289

Bioactive Lipids are fatty acids that have a beneficial effect on living tissues and cells. Examples are omega-3 fatty acids, conjugated linoleic acid and oleic acid. Through managed feeding on grasses, forage and oilseeds, such as flax and sunflower seeds, the bioactive lipid levels in beef cattle can be increased.

Omega-3 fatty acids include ALA, DHA and EPA. Alpha-linoleic acid (ALA) is the parent omega-3 fatty acid and is essential to human health because it cannot be produced by the body and must be obtained from food, such as meat. ALA is the predominant omega-3 fatty acid found in beef cattle.

Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) is a derivative of linoleic acid (LA). CLA is produced as a result of the metabolism of linoleic acid during the rumination process in beef cattle, dairy cows, sheep and goats. Linoleic acid is also a precursor of trans-vaccenic acid which is transformed into CLA in beef tissue and in the human body. Beef cattle take in linoleic acid through feeding on grasses, forage and oilseeds, such as sunflower seeds. Beef and dairy products are almost the only sources of CLA in the human diet.

You may be interested in this research:

http://www.cattle.ca/research%20and%20development/bcrc/Fact%20Sheets/Lcarnitine.pdf

“This study shows that the addition of sunflower seeds to feedlot rations increases CLA content of beef even about that of grass-finished beef, indicating a potential to market CLA-enhanced beef as a functional food.”

[grassfarmer]

As I said I was looking for someone to confirm or deny the rumor that this funding is not really all for the sunflower in feedlot rations research rather some at least is for research into physical injection of CLA into beef carcases.
Even the sunflower in feedlot rations is a little bass ackwards for my liking - when the best natural source of CLA's is from cattle grazing fresh grass why would we try and "better" that by mechanically growing and harvesting sunflower plants and trucking the seeds to a feedlot to mix with other mechanically harvested feeds? It's another fossil fuel model where one is unnecessary.
Another factor comes to mind - if this takes off with consumers and they all want CLA enhanced beef the packers could supply them with grassfed product from south America fairly easily. I question the ability for Canadian producers to be able to achieve much of a premium on this longterm. Maybe something to think on before adding too much to the cost of enhanced feedlot rations.

[rkaiser]

It sounds like some of the money could find it's way to Lacombe research facility for the sunflower project, but some of it is to pay for research already done. Maybe some for the injection process.

First off boys, I got to say that I personally have a preference for a bit of barley finish on a beef. It does change the flavor; and different is what keeps some of us in business. Thus our attempt to work with Lacombe to enhance CLA by adding sunflowers to our diet. A diet that will include barley.

As far as the South American thing. I would say that that would be a good reason to try to ad sunflowers to a barley finishing diet. If this industry is going to survive as an exporter and CCA doe not become another Rcalf protectionist group to stave off imports, we will have to keep our product unique from the other grass finished product the we all know sails the high seas.

I am a true supporter of grass and forage based diets and try to keep our finishing down to as few days on feed as possible -- ie grazing yearlings and then feedlot. I also like to keep the barley percentage lower - about 60% max and keep the hormones out to promote an earlier finish. Rumensin is another no no as the bacteria that are killed off by the monensin are actually the bacteria needed to create CLA.

[farmers_son]

CLA in beef is something to watch. I agree that South America should be able to supply grass fed beef easily. If the sunflower feed beef is even higher in CLA that may be an advantage that we would have.

Something I have wondered about...how much grass fed beef could we really produce on the prairies? I have no experience fattening young animals on grass but would think that it takes really good lush grass. Could most areas grow that kind of grass or only the really productive areas?

[PureCountry]

I see an opportunity to throw in a plug for a course the wife and I just took. We just finished a Holistic Management course with Don & Bev Campbell of Meadow Lake, SK. The word course hardly seems fitting for 6 days of getting only to the "tip of the iceberg", of what is possible with Holistic Management, but it was 6 days that the term "life-changing" seems fitting for.

As a bit of a soils buff, I know that the CEC of certain soils will only allow them to grow plants to a certain potential. Clay-based soils will always have a higher CEC - think of it as your soil's fuel tank - than will light sandy soils. However, with Holistic Management, I have seen 1st hand - before we took the course - people growing forage on light soils that was nothing short of amazing for their region.

What I'm getting at f_s, is that my answer would be, yes, we can grow enough high quality forage, if we practiced better land management to improve our soils. And Holistic Management is the best system I have seen for teaching people how to do that.

[grassfarmer]

To back that up PureCountry take a look at the slideshow available at http://www.soilcarbon.com.au/case_studies/index.html then click on the "slideshow in English" tab. Quite remarkable pictures that show that management is the difference between desert and lush pasture.

[per]

Not withstanding your tastebuds, there is a market for grass fed beeves and it can be accomplished in our environment. The problem is that it is a seasonable product that is available only in the fall. We have had to encourage or educate our customers to have freezers and buy larger quantities than they would otherwise like to. This area of research would help people who are trying to make healthy choices.