Hello Dearest Readers, Isabella here!

For the Meat Supply Chain Part Two post, we’re going to discuss meat processing. Why does the US import meat? Why did meat processing become so industrialized? For the sake of this article I’m going to provide you with the basics, if you’d like to learn more about meat grading and the regulation of meat in the US I recommend subscribing and reading our ebook!

Last time we ended with some fun facts about how the meat industry altered the trajectory of how meat retailers (butchers and grocers) conducted business; the meat business transformed from local meat shops to the industrialized mass processing behemoth we know of today. There’s one thing that’s for sure as I dove deeper into the meat history of the US I found more incredible facts, I’m going to keep it simple for a quick recap of time. 

In regards to meat processing, we cannot omit the importance of the assembly line in the 1800s. Indeed, it was not Henry Ford whom “invented” the assembly line, he witnessed the efficient industrialized process during a tour of a Chicago slaughterhouse where people paid to witness the assembly line in operation while hogs were being slaughtered and processed on a kill floor. People marveled at the modern mass industrialization of our food, in some instances the assembly line revolutionized how the international community thought of processing food for the masses.

The introduction of the assembly line was the dawn of industrialized consumption of food, with industry came unions. In our last article, We discussed the union ramifications in the 1980s but the initial introduction of unions in dawn of meat industrialization provided the processing plants with dedicated labor that promoted overall volume. In some cases, the unions and the industrialization of meat processing was the culprit for the mass separation of consumers from their food (what we see so rampant today). 

Prior to the assembly line slaughterhouses and meat processing houses were almost none-existent. Farmers raised their own ruminants and processed them for their families and small communities. After the Civil War, many ranchers sent their animals to the North East (Chicago and New York) to be slaughtered because they were making more money per head; therefore, they could pull a larger profit. Later these families became what we’d later refer to as lobbyists (more about this later). During this same time, President Lincoln made two influential decisions for the United States food system. 

The first you ask? He created the USDA or United States Department of Agriculture which introduced the meat grading system and eventually would establish food safety handling specs. He was so proud of his creation he called it “the people’s department”. Most of all he created this federal department because half of all American’s were farming their own food in result of his signing of The Homestead Act. Meat standards were introduced in order to protect the people in the cities to ensure integrity in the product. 

In 1862 The Homestead Act was dear to Lincoln’s heart because of his upbringing. He understood the deep value of food availability for American families and he understood the importance of American families growing their own food. The Homestead Act provided the American people with an opportunity to “head West”. It broke up the cattle barons for immigrants searching for “The American Dream”. This did; however, provide a more complicated problem of the “wild, wild, west” that led to blood Range Wars. Essentially, these angry cattle ranchers became the wild cowboys that were later depicted by John Wayne and Clint Eastwood. 

I digress, why is this history important? Well, we need to know where we’ve come from in order to know where we’ve arrived, more importantly, we need to understand where we’ve been to in order to know where we’re going. My point being meat eaters, is that you might be alarmed by some of the information I’m about to share, buckle up. If we don’t take inventory we might be ousted by plant eaters…; although, I’m all for eating plants there’s nothing like a Prime 90-day aged ribeye. So, listen up folks!

Why does the United States import beef?

Let’s talk about the largest inbound import countries: Japan, South Korea, and Mexico. 

Why? 

Great question! Fast food burgers, unfortunately. According to the USDA “Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Mexico were the top suppliers of beef to the United States in 2019. Most of the beef imported from Australia and New Zealand goes into processed products such as ground beef. In recent years, tight beef supplies in Oceania and the strengthening Australian dollar relative to the U.S. dollar since 2009 have hampered total beef supplies to the United States. Previously banned due to food safety concerns, U.S. imports from Brazil are now open to raw beef products, but Brazil still provides a significant portion of the total cooked beef imported.”

But wait, there’s more! The USDA also states:

“The United States imports much larger numbers of cattle than it exports. Canada and Mexico are the only significant cattle suppliers to the U.S. market because of their geographical proximity and the complementarity of their cattle and beef sectors to those of the United States. From 2015 to 2019, over 60 percent of the cattle imported came from Mexico, and nearly all of them were lighter-weight cattle intended for stocker or feeder operations in the United States. Of the cattle imports from Canada, almost 70 percent were destined for immediate slaughter; on average, 60 percent of these were fed steers and heifers and 40 percent were cows and bulls. The remaining 30 percent of the cattle imported from Canada went to U.S. feedlots for finishing.”

“U.S. cattle exports to Canada and Mexico vary from year to year in both the total numbers exported and the relative percentages exported to each country. Historically, the United States has primarily exported slaughter cattle to both Canada and Mexico, in addition to some feeder cattle to Canada. However, new markets for U.S. cattle exports of dairy and beef breeding cattle have emerged in recent years, including Turkey, Russia, Qatar, and Vietnam.”

Are you scared yet? I ask this question: What are the federal sanitary food requirements for these places? QUESTIONABLE and generally unregulated! 

General consumers should know that most grocery chains are carrying this imported product because it’s cheaper. Not only from an overall operations perspective but also because real butchers using fresh meat (like us) aren’t in existence anymore. 

This isn’t even the most ridiculous part of this entire equation. The US is importing beef from these countries and running it through a USDA inspection. Granted, if the product “passes” the USDA’s allowing companies (lobbyists) to label “Product of U.S.A”. 

You have to agree that if you’d made it this far, you’re freaked out. I am. The fact that there’s consumers that consume this product as ‘healthy’ protein product for their families is extremely alarming. 

So, where does this leave us? 

The point of this information is to shine light on an industry that is quite old and one that is rather antiquated. If you’re a meat eater, you love it like we do. You’re may be a hunter, you respect where you source your family’s food from. You find it massively important, like us. All we ask is that you educate yourself. Ask the hard questions so you get to the bottom of the answers. 

Find your butcher or your local rancher and ask about the sources of your food. You’ll pay a premium but at the very least you will know the source of your proteins. At the bare minimum don’t buy meat bred in Canada or Mexico and killed in the US with a label “PRODUCT OF USA” on it for the sake of it being “inexpensive”. Remember folks you are what you eat!

In food and health from our table to yours, 

-The Rutigliano’s 

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