Journal article
Bushfire exposure is associated with darker color of beef loin at grading
M Hastie, G Hepworth, A Hillman, C Pfeiffer, B Cowled, R Warner
Livestock Science | ELSEVIER | Published : 2024
Abstract
The effect of bushfires (also known as wildfires) on the Australian livestock industry extends beyond the direct loss of animals and farming assets, with anecdotal reports of increased incidence of dark meat color defects in beef carcasses at grading (AUSMEAT color score >3) from bushfire affected cattle. To understand the association between bushfire exposure and meat color, an investigation using historical MSA (Meat Standards Australia) grading data, pasture data and bushfire data over two bushfire seasons (2018–2019, 2019–2020) was conducted. For bushfire affected beef cattle (n = 451 299), predictive models were developed to estimate the association between bushfire exposure and (1) loi..
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Funding Acknowledgements
This work was supported with funding from Meat and Livestock Australia as part of Project No. B.AHE.2102. We also thank Nicholas Sharpe from NSW RFS for facilitating provision of bushfire extent mapping from NSW and Naomi Withers from Victorian Department of Environment, Land Water and Planning, for facilitating provision of bushfire extent mapping from Victoria. We thank Janine Lau of MLA for provision of MSA data, Barbara Moloney and Catherine Fraser who provided PIC data from NSW, and Alison Lee who provided PIC data for Victoria under strict privacy requirements. We also acknowledge the staff at the processing plants who consented to having their data utilized for these analyses for the benefit of the industry.