| South Africa's Feedlot Industry Launch "The Beef-Up" Campaign |
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The South African Feedlot Association this week launched a
first-of-its-kind advertising campaign that will educate, persuade and
assure consumers of the hygiene and wholesomeness of South African Beef
as well as its health and nutritional value, appetite appeal,
versatility and affordability. |
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| The campaign couples broadcast and print advertisements that has
been designed to communicate a number of key messages that will educate
consumers on the versatility, value and superior quality of South
African beef in a simple, yet powerful, manner. |
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| "With so much conflicting information out there, it is time to
inform consumers on how good South African beef is. South Africans
love beef. And now the consumer and their families can enjoy a
variety of preparations of beef for their great taste, versatility and
nutritional benefits", says Mr Dave Ford, Executive Director of SA
Feedlot Association. |
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| The need for a consumer marketing campaign for SA Beef was
identified after research was conducted by A C Nielsen to provide an
insight into the SA consumer purchasing and consumption of beef trends,
which revealed a number of very interesting findings. Research
showed that the consumption of beef had dropped over a two-year period,
particularly amongst females and older people, and this is attributed to
the misconception that beef is less desirable for good health. |
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| The commercials feature appetising visuals of beef and offer the
consumer a number of creative executions, communicating the myriad of
benefits that South African beef offers, including its versatility in
meal preparation, promoting its nutritional value and revealing its low
fat content. |
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| "South African Beef is much leaner than previously assumed.
The beef consumed most often in South Africa contains only 13% fat - of
the leanest when compared to global beef producers and thus making it
perfectly acceptable to consume as part of a healthy balanced diet,"
reveals academic nutritionist, Hettie Schonfeldt. "This campaign has
been launched to let beef lovers know that lean beef gives you a number
of essential nutrients, including protein, iron and vitamin B12", she
added. |
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| The series of commercials and in-store point of sale material appear
from 20 October 2003. Three thirty-second television commercials
will ensure that South African Beef will enjoy R8,5 million exposure in
prime time slots on SABC 1, airtime partner and will be screened across
SABC 2 & 3 to intensify exposure of the campaign. |
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| The campaign is funded by the South African Feedlot Association and
SABC 1 is the official airtime partner for the campaign. The
advertisements were created by Twins Communications. |
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| Note to Journalists : |
| South African Feedlot Association |
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| The SA Feedlot Association is an umbrella organisation that
addresses collective interests of the South African Feedlot industry
which collectively markets close to 80% of the total beef production in
South Africa. |
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| Following the recent deregulation of the South African Meat
Industry, a number of the larger feedlots have now vertically integrated
into processing, wholesaling and even retailing their own quality beef
products. For more information go to
www.safeedlot.co.za. |
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| FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE |
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| Ms Thoko Didiza, Minister of Agriculture, announced on 31 May in
Parliament, that the OIE declared South Africa free of
Foot-and-Mouth disease. |
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| THE HORMONE MYTH |
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| "How safe is our Beef" is a topic of media attention which increases
or decreases according to issues and incidents in the world beef
industries. |
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| Very rarely are either the media or consumers at large, sufficiently
knowledgeable to make any kind of intelligent judgement on potential
foodborne hazards and their stance on the subject is traditionally
emotional and void of any scientific substantiation while falling prey
to eloquent food fear-mongers. |
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| As stated by Dr. Dixie Le, Governor of Washington State 1989,
"despite all the evidence of our physical wellbeing - beyond the dreams
of all previous generations - we seem to have become a nation of
easily-frightened people. Perhaps we can be classified as the
healthiest hypochondriacs in the world." |
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| The use of anabolic steroids in animal production to enhance the
well-being of animals while maximising feed efficiency is one such
perceived hazard which warrants objective comment. |
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| The growth of all tissue body parts is under the direct control of
hormones, They are found everywhere in the animal kingdom and are
secreted and consumed by man and animal daily in varying amounts. |
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| 1. HORMONES IN FOOD |
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| Vegetables contribute close to 90% of all compounds with hormonal
activity ingested in man's diet. |
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| Vegetables contain specific phyto hormones which are also found in
fodder consumed by domestic animals. |
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| Phyto hormones with an ostrogenic activity are also found in natural
vegetable products consumed daily by man, for example, potatoes,
cherries, apples, cabbage, beans and hops used in the preparation of
beer as well as in soya and sunflower oils. |
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| Interestingly enough, beer contains more than ten times the hormone
level of beef which means that eleven steaks of 300 grams each will have
the same amount of hormones as a 340ml can of beer. |
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| It is also interesting to compare the levels of hormones in beef
with some other commonly used "natural" foodstuffs, specifically
comparing 500 grams of product. |
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| Equivalent amounts : |
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| Soyabean Oil: |
1 000 000 ng /500g |
| Cabbage: |
12 000 |
| Wheat germ: |
2 000 |
| Peas: |
2 000 |
| Eggs: |
7 500 |
| Ice cream: |
3 000 |
| Milk: |
65 |
| Beef from non-implanted cattle: |
8 |
| Beef from implanted cattle |
11 |
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| 2. NATURALLY OCCURRING ESTROGEN IN HUMANS |
| It is worthy of note to compare estrogen levels in healthy humans : |
| Pregnant woman:: |
900 000 000 ng / 500g |
| Non-pregnant woman : |
5 000 000 |
| Adult man |
100 000 |
| Pre-puberal children |
40 000 |
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| 3. HORMONES IN ANIMAL PRODUCTION |
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| Hormones are used by livestock producers to increase lean meat
production and to improve the efficiency of conversion of feed energy to
lean meat. |
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| When they are used, it is only done on the recommendation of a
specialist veterinary physician and the withdrawal periods prescribed by
the manufacturers are always allowed before the cattle are sent to the
abattoir. |
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| Five hormones have been approved for use in beef production by our
Registrar under Act 36 of 1947, after many years of extensive local and
international trials and human safety tests were presented. These
are estradiol, progresterone and testosterone, which are the natural
hormones and two synthetic hormones, zeranol and trenbalone acetate.
Studies in the US indicate that any increase above the natural level of
these naturally-occurring hormones in implanted cattle is so minute it
is insignificant and residues from an implant cannot be differentiated
from naturally-occurring hormone levels. |
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| The US Food and Drug Administration - one of the strictest human
health safety organisation throughout the world - has approved the use
of properly administered hormonal implants for beef production. |
| Implant safety is also implied by the fact that in 40 years of
application, no safety problem has ever arisen. |
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| 4. "NORMALLY PRODUCED BEEF" vs "NATURAL BEEF: |
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| Advertising strategies around "Natural Beef" have been structured to
convince consumers that "Normally Produced Beef" is unhealthy and
inferior while the "natural" product is from an "uncontaminated, pure"
background which raises concerns in the consumers' minds regarding the
safety and healthiness of normal beef. Studies conducted by the
centre for Red Meat Safety found that it is highly unlikely that there
is any difference in the presence of harmful chemical residues
between "normal beef" and "natural beef". |
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| 5. EU HORMONE BAN |
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| The "Hormone Ban" is one of the better known non-tariff barriers
implemented by a country to protect its domestic market. |
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| The "Hormone Ban" implemented by EU member countries is often cited
as being scientifically based proof of the "dangers" involved in
consuming hormone treated products. |
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| It is a well-established fact that the whole "Hormone Ban" issue was
for two reasons : |
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- To prevent EU producers contributing even more to their
over-production of beef and adding larger volumes to the large
Intervention Stockpile to keep US Beef exports out.
- The banning of US Hormone Beef was taken to the International
Court and the European community lost its case with the conclusion
that there were no scientific grounds whatsoever to substantiate the
EU claim that beef ex-America was a hormone health hazard.
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| It was concluded that the attempts to ban US hormone-implanted beef
were not based on any scientific evidence whatsoever and the US has been
granted commensurate trade relief. |
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| 6. SUMMARY |
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| 1. Growth hormones occur naturally in all animals and humans. |
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| 2. Growth hormones occur in higher levels in other food products
classed as natural and wholesome. |
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| 3. The following prominent agencies renowned for their concern for
human food safety concluded that growth hormones used in beef production
pose no safety risk to humans consuming the beef. |
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- US Food and Drug Administration
- World Health Organisation (WHO)
- Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
- Codex Alimentarius
- European Economic Community (EEC)
- Scientific working Group on Anabolic Agents (1981)
- European Community (EC) Scientific conference on Growth
Promotion in Meat Production (1995)
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| One can only conclude that any fears relative to risk to human
health because of implantation of hormones in beef production units are
totally unfounded. |
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