Beef category is holding strong, with both dollar sales and volume up
Beef: Is it what’s for dinner? The answer is yes, with caveats. The category is not immune to the food trends at large. The desire for more protein is good news. The move toward more plant-based options? Not so much. But no matter the consumer dietary trend, beef is holding its own.
“Whether we look at the one-year or the three-year view, dollar sales and volume are strong,” says Anne-Marie Roerink, principal with 210 Analytics, San Antonio. “Beef represents more than 50% of total meat department sales for most retailers, given its high price per pound. It still has the highest share of volume, too, at about one-third.”
Beef sales were up 1%, surpassed only by breakfast meats in the meat category, for the 52 weeks ending June 16, according to IRI data. At 5.1%, ribs saw the biggest jump in sales, followed by offal at 4.8%. This rise in offal products can be attributed to health enthusiasts choosing nutrient-rich cuts such as liver, kidney, heart, tongue and bone marrow for the health benefits, says Rodney Mason, founder and chairman of Nurture Ranch, Frisco, Texas. Another sales driver for these products is people are purchasing them, especially the liver, heart and bones, for their pets, again for the perceived health benefits.
“A big area of change in how America’s food culture is changing is how we think and interact with our food,” Roerink says. “There is so much more emphasis on better understanding where the food comes from, who produced it and how.” Conventional beef still makes up a majority of sales, but the category’s growth is coming from beef producers talking about production attributes, such as antibiotic use, and outlining all the steps of how the beef ended up on the customer’s table, she adds.
Some producers also are incorporating tracking capabilities on beef’s packaging so consumers can trace that particular cut of beef back to the farm where the cow was raised.
This is a big deal for beef, Mason says, especially ground beef, which, when processed traditionally, can have several different sources in a single pack. Producers such as Nurture Meat and Tyson’s Open Prairie Natural Meats brand provide customers with full transparency and traceability of the beef on the package—from farm to table. Customers can find out what farmer raised the cow that became the cut of beef they purchased.
“In my mind, transparency is the currency of trust. And the more we can be open to the consumer and educating them, the better,” Roerink says.
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A longtime marketer, Rodney Mason never imagined he’d be raising free-range cattle and producing and distributing 100 percent grass-fed steaks, hot dogs, sausages and ground beef. But when his wife’s health crisis prompted the couple to clean up their diet, Mason was dismayed to learn just how unhealthy our food supply really is and how little most consumers actually know about it. This is especially the case, he found, with meat.
Determined to create change, Mason founded Nurture Ranch, a grass-fed beef brand committed to total transparency, humane animal treatment, single-steer processing and offering the most nutritious beef possible. Along with its great-tasting products, the company’s innovative Nurture Tracker program wowed New Hope editors at Natural Products Expo West 2018, earning Nurture Ranch the NEXTY Award for Best Transparently Sourced Product. Here, we talk with Mason about his game-changing brand.
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As consumers strive to find the cleanest and greenest labels that support their health goals and their values, the race is on for the new must-have ingredient: radical transparency.
Another Superstar to Look out For: Nurture Ranch Traceable Grass Fed Beef.
This 2018 NEXTY Award winner promises beef from one cow, from birth to slaughter. Certified by the American Grassfed Association, the tracking code also lets you see the animal’s history, including its genetics, health metrics and the specific grasses grazed.
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Tests of ground beef show grass-fed is less likely to harbor dangerous bacteria.
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There is evidence that people who consume antibiotic-laced meat will get some of the drugs, as well as resistant bacteria, into their own digestive tracts.
A growing body of scientific research shows antibiotics we take as medicine can disrupt the bacteria that are key to properly digest food and process fats. This disruption has been linked to the rise of obesity, juvenile diabetes, asthma and allergies and some researchers also believe autism, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. read more >
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Consumers who ate grass fed beef for only four weeks showed significant increases in omega-3s compared with those eating grain-finished meat.
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Grass Fed Beef is Lower in Fat, has More Vitamins, Minerals, Omega 3 and CLAs than Feed Lot Beef
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Deadly, Drug-Resistant ‘Superbugs’ Pose Huge Threat, W.H.O. Says
Scientists from the Kishony Lab at Harvard Medical School designed a simple way to observe how bacteria become impervious to antibiotics.
Video of real superbugs quickly forming immunity to high concentrated levels of antibiotics like you would find in a cattle feed lot. The concentrations of antibiotics quickly make them stronger and more resistant to treatment.
Antibiotics in your meat: What's the big deal?
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Growth Hormones Fed to Beef Cattle Damage Human Health
