Beef Industry Still Working
To Develop Convenient Products

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The beef industry's team of new product development experts is focusing on the creation of new beef and veal concepts in an effort to increase the value of underutilized primal cuts such as the chuck and round.

The team, consisting of a variety of experts including meat and food scientists, operating experts, marketers, chefs and home economists, identified a number of opportunities to build demand for beef in 1999 and beyond. Using market research, the opportunities were chosen based on their ability to produce the greatest volume increases for producers in the shortest amount of time, capitalize on consumer trends, and increase carcass value.

The first strategy involves boosting the value of one of the most popular, yet undervalued beef items — ground beef. The idea is to develop pre-cooked ground beef "crumbles" that can be used in foods such as lasagna, sloppy joe sandwiches and a variety of other ground beef meals.

The deli case represents another untapped area for the beef industry. Experiencing a virtual explosion in recent years, profits from the supermarket deli have grown from $2 billion in 1990 to more than $23 billion in 1997. But while beef remains the leading protein in the meat case, it lags behind rotisserie chicken, ham and turkey in deli case sales.

The team plans to win over deli customers with Rotiss-A-Roast, a new beef roast prepared in the supermarket deli similar to rotisserie chicken. Rotiss-A-Roast is an excellent complement to rotisserie chicken, which claims to move more than half a billion birds annually. The beef industry intends to roll out Rotiss-A-Roast in 69 Dominick's supermarkets in the Chicago area this month.

Deli sliced meat has additional opportunities for the beef industry.

The industry also intends to tackle the popularity of chicken in the fresh meat case. Another new product initiative is a quick and easy beef product that rivals the skinless chicken breast in terms of convenience, nutrition, ease, speed of preparation, and proportionality.

Finally, appetizers represent an area previously untouched by the beef industry. With consumers' increasing demand for portable food options, finger foods have succeeded in both the foodservice and retail channels. The team of experts is pooling its talent on three to four appetizer concepts, including steak fingers.