The Botswana Meat Commission (BMC) is a non-profit body which was established by the government of the newly independent Botswana in 1965. Its main functions are the buying, slaughtering, processing, and marketing of all beef and beef products within Botswana for sale in local and international markets. [1] [2]
The BMC is headquartered in Lobatse. Its facilities consist of an integrated complex which includes an abattoir, canning, tanning and by-products plants. [2] A throughput of 8000 cattle and 500 small stock are handled on a daily basis. The BMC also operates two branch abattoirs, one in Maun and the other in Francistown, with respective capacities of 100 cattle per day and 400 cattle and 150 small stock per day. [3]
Along with its core business, the BMC owns transport companies in Botswana. On an international scale, it also owns marketing subsidiaries in European countries including the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands, [2] and cold storage facilities in the UK and South Africa. It also owns an insurance company in the Cayman Islands. [4]
The BMC co-ordinates the production of beef from a national herd grazing on predominantly communal ranch lands which cover a large portion of the country. The population of the cattle suffered a notable decline between the 1980s and the early 2000s, with numbers decreasing from roughly three million to about 1,700,000. [5]
The company is closely monitored by the Botswana Veterinary Services for quality control. All stages of its production are certified to the ISO 9002 quality system. Chilled vacuum-packed beef cuts have a shelf-life of six months provided that the cold chain is maintained at a constant, specified minimum temperature. BMC also produces frozen boneless beef for manufacturing purposes with a two-year shelf-life as well as corned beef and other canned beef products for export. A 2005 report cited the company's European quota of frozen beef as 19,000 tonnes per year. [5]
The economy of Botswana is currently one of the world's fastest growing economies, averaging about 5% per annum over the past decade. Growth in private sector employment averaged about 10% per annum during the first 30 years of the country's independence. After a period of stagnation at the turn of the 21st century, Botswana's economy registered strong levels of growth, with GDP growth exceeding 6–7% targets. Botswana has been praised by the African Development Bank for sustaining one of the world's longest economic booms. Economic growth since the late 1960s has been on par with some of Asia's largest economies. The government has consistently maintained budget surpluses and has extensive foreign-exchange reserves.
Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle. Beef can be prepared in various ways; cuts are often used for steak, which can be cooked to varying degrees of doneness, while trimmings are often ground or minced, as found in most hamburgers. Beef contains protein, iron, and vitamin B12. Along with other kinds of red meat, high consumption is associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer and coronary heart disease, especially when processed. Beef has a high environmental impact, being a primary driver of deforestation with the highest greenhouse gas emissions of any agricultural product.
In livestock agriculture and the meat industry, a slaughterhouse, also called an abattoir, is a facility where livestock animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a meat-packing facility.
Kobe beef is Wagyu beef from the Tajima strain of Japanese Black cattle, raised in Japan's Hyōgo Prefecture around Kobe city, according to rules set out by the Kobe Beef Marketing and Distribution Promotion Association. The meat is a delicacy, valued for its flavour, tenderness and fatty, well-marbled texture. Kobe beef can be prepared as steak, sukiyaki, shabu-shabu, sashimi, and teppanyaki. Within Japan, Kobe is one of the three Sandai Wagyū, the "three big beefs", along with Matsusaka beef and Ōmi beef or Yonezawa beef.
The meat-packing industry handles the slaughtering, processing, packaging, and distribution of meat from animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep and other livestock. Poultry is generally not included. This greater part of the entire meat industry is primarily focused on producing meat for human consumption, but it also yields a variety of by-products including hides, dried blood, protein meals such as meat & bone meal, and, through the process of rendering, fats.
Live export is the commercial transport of livestock across national borders. The trade involves a number of countries with the Australian live export industry being one of the largest exporters in the global trade. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, exports of live sheep rose 21.4% and live calves increased 9.7% between March 2017 and March 2018. During 2017 alone, Australia exported 2.85 million living animals in shipping containers and airplanes. The expansion of the trade has been supported by the introduction of purpose-built ships which carry large numbers of animals. The amount of livestock exported from the European Union grew to nearly 586m kilograms between 2014 and 2017, a 62.5% increase during the time period.
Beef cattle are cattle raised for meat production. The meat of mature or almost mature cattle is mostly known as beef. In beef production there are three main stages: cow-calf operations, backgrounding, and feedlot operations. The production cycle of the animals starts at cow-calf operations; this operation is designed specifically to breed cows for their offspring. From here the calves are backgrounded for a feedlot. Animals grown specifically for the feedlot are known as feeder cattle, the goal of these animals is fattening. Animals not grown for a feedlot are typically female and are commonly known as replacement heifers. While the principal use of beef cattle is meat production, other uses include leather, and beef by-products used in candy, shampoo, cosmetics, and insulin.
Ractopamine is an animal feed additive used to promote leanness and increase food conversion efficiency in farmed animals in several countries, but banned in others. Pharmacologically, it is a phenol-based TAAR1 agonist and β adrenoreceptor agonist that stimulates β1 and β2 adrenergic receptors. It is most commonly administered to animals for meat production as ractopamine hydrochloride. It is the active ingredient in products marketed in the US as Paylean for swine, Optaflexx for cattle, and Topmax for turkeys. It was developed by Elanco Animal Health, a division of Eli Lilly and Company.
Mulaut Abattoir Sdn Bhd is a slaughterhouse located in Brunei. It processes and supplies halal meat and slaughtering facilities to the public. It also supplies meat to Royal Brunei Airlines catering operations.
After World War II, pastoralists from the Western Australian Kimberley region sought to develop the local beef export industry by encouraging infrastructure development there. Three brothers, Gordon, Douglas and Keith Blythe who owned and operated several pastoral leases in the east Kimberley devised an Air Beef Scheme by which a meatworks including an abattoir, carcase freezing facilities and an aerodrome were built at the remote Glenroy Station on the Mount House lease, about 100 kilometres (62 mi) east of Imintji Aboriginal Community near Derby. The scheme operated successfully from 1949 to 1965 and was important for the economic development of the towns of Wyndham and Derby as well as the development of the Kimberley pastoral industry generally.
The Ross River Meatworks Chimney is a heritage-listed abattoir at Stuart Drive, Idalia, City of Townsville, Queensland, Australia. It is the 11th tallest structure in Townsville. It was built as part of the Ross River Meatworks in 1891 William McCallum Park and is now a major landmark as part of Fairfield Waters and part of Lancinis Springbank urban village. It was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 14 August 2009.
A steak is a thick cut of meat generally sliced across the muscle fibers, sometimes including a bone. It is normally grilled or fried. Steak can be diced, cooked in sauce, such as in steak and kidney pie, or minced and formed into patties, such as hamburgers.
Meat Corporation of Namibia, locally known as MeatCo, is a meat processing company headquartered in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. It is the largest exporter of prime beef in Namibia.
Laurence "Larry" Goodman is an Irish businessman, chiefly involved in the beef processing industry. He is the 6th generation of a livestock and meat exporting family and founded what is now ABP Food Group in 1954. He is the Executive Chairman of the company which has grown to become one of Europe’s largest agri-business companies with 51 processing plants in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Spain, France, Denmark, Netherlands, Austria, Poland. ABP employs over 11,000 people. Separately, the Goodman family office has business interests in property, healthcare and productive arable and beef farming.
Cattle slaughter in India, especially cow slaughter, is controversial because of cattle's status as endeared and respected living beings to adherents of Dharmic religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism and Jainism. Also, many of the Zoroastrians/Parsis living in India stopped eating beef out of respect, as it is sacred for the people of Dharmic religions; while it is an acceptable source of meat in Abrahamic religions like Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Cow slaughter has been shunned for a number of reasons, specifically because of cow's association with Lord Krishna in Hinduism, and because cattle have been an integral part of rural livelihoods as an economic necessity. Cattle slaughter has also been opposed by various Indian religions because of the ethical principle of Ahimsa (non-violence) and the belief in the unity of all life. Legislation against cattle slaughter is in place throughout most states and territories of India.
The New Zealand Meat Board is a statutory body which provides quota management on behalf of the Crown for meat exports to the United States, European Union and United Kingdom. To protect their own livestock industry these countries give limited access to New Zealand meat exports.
Animal welfare and rights in Indonesia regards the treatment of and laws concerning non-human animals in Indonesia. Indonesia has limited animal welfare regulations by international standards.
Hong Kong–Namibia relations refers to the international relations between Hong Kong and Namibia.
The Foreign Cattle Market, Deptford (1872–1913) was one of the two great livestock markets of London; from it came about half the capital's supply of freshly killed meat. Situated at the former royal Deptford Dockyard on a bend of the River Thames and owned by the City of London, all animals came from overseas, were landed by cattle boat, kept under quarantine conditions, and had to be slaughtered within 10 days of disembarkation. None could leave the market alive: the purpose was to stop the importation of animal diseases. Besides cattle, the market handled sheep, pigs and a few others. It could shelter 8,500 cattle and 20,000 sheep at a time, and had 70 slaughterhouses.
Minerva Foods is a Brazilian food company founded in 1924 in the city of Barretos, São Paulo.