What is BIFSCo?
The Beef Industry Food Safety Council (BIFSCo) brings together representatives from all segments of the beef industry to develop industry-wide, science-based strategies to solve beef safety challenges.
BIFSCo is a coalition of industry executives, beef producers, university and government scientists, industry association executives, and other experts representing each segment in the beef supply. All members are dedicated to the BIFSCo principle of collaboration and, since its 1997 inception, BIFSCo members have been responsible for the implementation of numerous technological innovations that continue to advance the safety of beef.
BIFSCo Strategy
The Beef Industry Food Safety Council facilitates input from producers, packers, processors, distributors, restaurateurs, and food retailers to form a coordinated frame of reference for action. The strategy of implementing a food safety plan must be responsive to the competitive and customer-driven dynamics of each segment. By matching the right objective with each segment, the beef industry builds on current safety efforts through an industry-wide strategy. Through these cooperative efforts, the industry gains access to enthusiasm, expertise, and needed resources for strategy execution and implementation. Today, the beef industry is challenged to recognize and address an expanding and increasingly complex food safety agenda that must serve an even more complex food delivery system. Meeting these new and complex needs requires collaboration across all sectors of the industry.
BIFSCo Relationship to the Beef Checkoff Program
Since its inception, the Beef Industry Food Safety Council has enjoyed a collaborative relationship with the Beef Checkoff Program. The safety of America’s beef supply is the number-one priority of all segments of the beef industry from cattle producers to packers to retailers and foodservice operators. For this reason, the beef checkoff, in addition to its funding of basic safety research, has co-funded with BIFSCo members a number of BIFSCo activities, including the annual Beef Industry Safety Summit and the BIFSCo.org website. BIFSCo membership is the sole funder of the industry's best practice documents and other safety education events. For more information on the checkoff"s beef research program, go to www.beefresearch.org.
Resources
To help fulfill the BIFSCo commitment to develop strategies that solve the challenges of food-borne pathogens in beef, industry representatives from all sectors collaborate on an ongoing basis to create unified best practices to serve as guidance for developing customized safety documents. These documents explain procedures that have been implemented successfully throughout the industry.
View all current Best Practice documents here.
In addition to BIFSCo-developed documents, other resources with safety information applicable to the different sectors are included in the section.
Interested in Membership?
Learn how membership in BIFSCo benefits both your organization and the entire beef industry.
