The beef industry worldwide is showing a trend towards increased cutting pace aimed at higher profits. However, prior research in the duck meat industry suggested that a higher cutting pace reduced quality and yield, leading to losses. This study aimed to test this hypothesis by investigating the effects of varying beef-cutting paces on yield, quality and economy. A field experiment was conducted on six workers cutting beef fillet, sirloin and entrecôte. Three types of paces were sequentially tested: Baseline (i.e., status quo), 'Quantity focus' (i.e., pace required to maximise quantity) and 'Quality focus' (i.e., pace required to minimise errors). The results showed a significant drop in yield, increased rate of quality deficiency and economic losses with the change to 'Quantity focus' (from Baseline and 'Quality focus') for all meat types. Workers supported these results and also added health problems to the list. The results confirmed that an increased cutting pace is unprofitable.
Food-borne illness caused by Salmonella enterica remains a public health problem and results in economic loss worldwide. With the up-coming establish- ment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) allowing unrestricted move- ment of labor and goods, there is a higher risk of pathogen transmission among the AEC countries. This study characterized and investigated the spatial and temporal associations of S. enterica strains isolated in AEC countries during 1940- 2012 compared with those isolated in northern-Thailand during 2011-2013. Of the 173 S. enterica strains examined, 68 sequence types (STs) and 32 clonal complexes (CCs) were identified by multi loci sequence typing. Twenty-one strains belonged to four sequence types new to AEC countries, and they constituted only two CCs. A number of strains originated from various countries with multiple hosts, were highlighted. There was evidence of strains circulating in the AEC region well over a decade. Such information will be important in formulating biosecurity measures, as well as in educating regarding the risk of disease transmission in AEC.