South Dakota Certified Beef
South Dakota's Certified Beef Program

WCBS 880 - March 9, 2005
Reported by Charles Osgood, The Osgood File

"Would you pay more for a steak if you knew it came from South Dakota?

 The South Dakota State Legislature and Governor think so. They passed and he signed the SOUTH DAKOTA CERTIFIED™ Beef program into law.
  
The seal of approval features an image of Mount Rushmore and the boast "World's Best Beef."
  
Where's the beef? Was the question a popular TV ad asked a while back. ‘Where's the beef from?’ is the question South Dakota wants to answer for their own beef, and not just what state is it from. There's to be a code on the South Dakota certified label that you can use to when you get the steaks home.
  
You can then go to an Internet site and use the codes to find out exactly where the meat came from, even the name of the ranch where the calf was born.

To do that they've set up an elaborate electronic record keeping system that will track the animal from birth though feedlots and meat packing plants, each one will wear an electronic ID tag proving that it was born, raised and slaughtered in the state of South Dakota.
  
All that costs money and that's why the consumer will have to pay premium prices for it. But Governor Mike Rounds thinks people will be willing to shell out more. The one thing you know for sure when you get meat that's South Dakota certified is that it's not from somewhere else.
  
Congress a few years back passed a law that says meat must be labeled according to country of origin. But that'll never be implemented. What with the fear of Mad Cow disease, the South Dakota certification means it's not from Canada or Great Britain or any other country, let alone any other state. "