|
|
|
National Hamburger and Beef Month gives producers a reason to celebrateFor more than 40 years, the month of May has been a time to recognize the more than 800,000 dedicated men and women who produce high quality, wholesome, nutritious beef known around the world. But May is also National Hamburger Month. So it's a good time to hail to the hamburger and bow to the beef producer that is. Hamburgers. It may seem as simple as a food that got its name from Hamburg, Germany. But the original ground beef patty on a bun may have been from the Mongols who brought it to Russia; seafarers that brought the patty idea back to the port city of Hamburg; Louis' Lunch--the New Haven, Conn., burger joint; "Hamburger Charlie" Nagreen; or, the Menches Brothers. But it seems no matter what the tale, the ending is still the same--consumers love a good burger. Recognizing that not all ground beef goes to making the perfect burger, however, two years ago the checkoff-funded ground beef initiative kicked off with these things in mind: improving consumer perceptions of ground beef's nutritional value and health benefits; increasing availability and access to ground beef and ground beef products; communicating positive messages about ground beef; and, adding value through processing improvements and product innovation. "Just like hamburgers aren't only made in May, producers don't just take extra-special care of their animals or the food they produce only one month of the year. It's what we do every day--bring healthy, nutritious food from our pastures to consumers' plates," says Cattlemen's Beef Board Chairman Dave Bateman, farmer-feeder from Oregon, Ill. "Our beef checkoff continues to work to increase consumer demand through things such as the ground beef initiative, grocery store promotions, summer grilling and so many other programs." One component of the ground beef initiative included testing consumer appeal of an extra lean burger patty, where it received extremely high consumer marks. And the ground beef initiative nutrition message is resonating with consumers: consumers bought an additional 85 million pounds of 78 percent lean (or better) ground beef at the grocery store in 2007 when compared to 2004. The fastest growing subcategory during this period was 85 to 89 percent lean beef. And, a 95 percent extra-lean patty now is available to school foodservice and households where leanness is an important buying consideration. Still, no matter how you slice it, hamburgers still are the most popular beef item for consumers. Americans consumed approximately 11.9 billion burgers in 2007. Forty-one percent of Americans eat burgers at least once a week and 85 percent eat burgers once a month. That's reason to tip your hat to beef producers. For more information about checkoff-funded efforts, visit www.beefboard.org. 5/19/08 Date: 5/15/08 Advertisement
Copyright/Privacy
Copyright 1995-2009. High Plains Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Any republishing of these pages, including electronic reproduction of the editorial archives or classified advertising, is strictly prohibited. If you have questions or comments you can reach us at High Plains Journal 1500 E. Wyatt Earp Blvd., P.O. Box 760, Dodge City, KS 67801 or call 1-800-452-7171. Email: webmaster@hpj.com |
Market Snapshot Inside Futures |
