Atria Beef contract production farms are currently undergoing a pilot study on antibiotic-free beef production.
The piloting will determine what actions for monitoring of medication farms must take and how medication - already low on international standards - could be decreased even further.
"No diseased animal will be left without care. They will all be cared for according to a veterinarian's instructions and the farm's own practices. We want to build a reliable and easy-to-use monitoring model, that will bring added value to every Finnish cow brought up without antibiotics," says the Director of Atria Beef, Sinikka Hassinen.
Cows are monitored through personal birth IDs throughout their lifespan. This enables systematic and animal-specific medication, even in cases where cows are moved to a different farm. Finnish farms and veterinarians use Naseva, a common bovine health care system, where they document health care related information for every animal e.g. the medications received by the individual animal.
"Naseva has finally been taken into use also by dairy farms. For this we thank both farms and dairies," Hassinen adds. Nearly 80 % of Finnish beef comes from dairy farms or calves born at dairy farms. "The whole Finnish milk and meat production chain must be committed to the welfare and monitoring of the animals in no matter what main product sector. This is a prerequisite for success," says Hassinen.
Atria launched the antibiotic-free chicken in autumn 2017. Antibiotic-free pork is launched in spring 2018. "We want to serve the world's cleanest meat, and antibiotic-free beef is the logical next step after chicken and pork. I'm glad we now get to make progress with beef, too. ", says the director of the meat product group, Tuomas Kujala.