On-farm quality assurance in the redmeat industry of Australia

A series of on-farm quality assurance schemes for red meat producers across Australia were developed in the late 1990s in response to increasing global demands for greater accountability within the whole food. The Cattlecare and Flockcare schemes were introduced in 1996 and 1998, respectively, to provide mechanisms for producers to demonstrate that their livestock were free of potential chemical residues, and that they had taken measures to prevent injury or stress to livestock. These schemes were independently audited codes of practice. After several years there was some dissatisfaction with the levels of adoption of these schemes, especially Flockcare. By 2001 just over 5% of all cattle producers and just over 1% of all sheep producers had implemented on-farm quality assurance. This covered nearly 16% of all cattle and 2% of all sheep in Australia, indicating that the larger than average producers were implementing quality assurance. Based on previous studies and anecdotal evidence that there were few current benefits for producers, the aims of this study were to identify the reasons for slow uptake and to quantify factors affecting implementation of on-farm quality assurance in the red meat industry. Surveys of "adopters" and "nou-adopters" of these schemes were developed and implemented in 2000 and 2001. Producers were approached initially by phone and given the options of completing the survey over the phone, by mail or by fax.