Free-range beef hits the shelves at Woolies

Woolworths is the first SA RETAILER to offer free-range beef that is guaranteed to be free from growth hormones, according to Peter Gordon, commercial manager for meat at Woolworths.
Issue date 18 May 2007

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Woolworths is the first SA RETAILER to offer free-range beef that is guaranteed to be free from growth hormones, according to Peter Gordon, commercial manager for meat at Woolworths. Woolworths sources beef from Namibian farms where the free-range method of farming is applied. No SA organisation that produces and markets free-range beef commercially could be found, said Gordon. The Namibian beef will be 10% to 30% more expensive than locally produced grain-fed beef. This is due to the EU paying a premium for Namibian beef, and the higher farming costs associated with free-range production. The use of growth hormones and the import of beef containing growth hormones is prohibited in the EU, according to Gordon.
The new free-range beef products will initially be available in 50 of Woolworths’s 180 stores nationwide. Free-range beef is a niche market product for health-­conscious consumers and will represent 5% of total beef sales, the rest still being SA grain-fed beef from feedlots. Gordon hopes to expand the free-range beef market to 30% of total beef sales in the near future. The free-range method of farming complies with internationally accepted principles known as the “Five Freedoms”: freedom from hunger and thirst; freedom from discomfort; freedom from pain, injury or ­disease; freedom to express normal ­behaviour; and freedom from fear and stress.
Free-range beef is part of the Woolworths “Good Food Journey” strategy, which aims to provide consumers with food that is free from unnecessary additives and produced responsibly, according to Woolworths. Proper consultation with local beef producing organisations was not conducted, said David Ford, executive director of the SA Feedlot Association (Safa). Considering the premium Woolworths is paying for their free-range beef, Ford feels that local producers would have jumped at the opportunity.
Free-range beef will not affect the traditional grain-fed beef market, according to Ford. Of concern, however, are SA and Namibian grazing conditions which are unsuitable for continuous free-range practices due to regular periods of drought.
The use of hormones in animal production is often used as an argument for the promotion of “organic” or “natural” beef. According to Ford, growth hormones, which occur naturally in all animals and humans, occur in higher levels in other food products described as “natural” than in beef.
The World Health Organisation and the European Union are but two ­bodies that endorse the use of growth ­hormones in beef production as safe for human consumption, said Ford. Safa has a livestock code to ensure a humane environment for the production of beef in an intensive feeding system which accepts and expands on the Five Freedoms: the right to freedom of movement; the right to free access to fresh feed and water at all times; the right to appropriate health care; the right to freedom from injury and suffering; and the right to freedom from harassment.
According to Ford, Safa views the EU ban on beef containing growth hormones as a non-tariff barrier, preventing the production and import of beef into an already oversupplied EU market. – Wouter Kriel