BEEF INDUSTRY RECOGNIZED FOR SCHOOL FOODSERVICE PROMOTIONS

CHICAGO (August 12, 1998) - The American School Food Service Association (ASFSA) recently recognized checkoff-funded efforts to promote beef menuing in school lunch programs by awarding a first place prize to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) booth at its annual conference held July 13-15 in New Orleans. While the beef industry has been an active exhibitor at the ASFSA conference for more than 20 years, taking the top booth prize helped increase beef’s visibility within this important market.

School children are significant consumers of beef products today and represent the beef industry’s market of the future. Every day, 94,000 U.S. schools serve 26.1 million lunches and 6.5 million breakfasts. By having beef on the menu, schools reinforce that beef is part of a well-balanced diet and help children develop balanced eating habits early in life. Beef promotions also provide new menuing ideas to schools that participate in the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Programs and, therefore, receive USDA donations of commodity meats, including beef.

NCBA’s award-winning booth focused on a new program for school foodservice operations that features ground beef recipes and tips for serving beef round roasts. The program includes a set of 14 ground beef recipes that appeal to kids like Mexican Beef Wraps, Simply Saucy Beef Lasagna and Barbecue Sloppy Joe Pizza. Another five recipes show school foodservice operators new ideas for menuing beef round roasts. An information sheet on handling, cooking and serving round roasts is included with the recipes.

In addition, NCBA recently released a "Beef Facts for School Foodservice" presentation designed exclusively for state beef councils to use in promoting beef usage. The presentation contains the latest research on teen eating and reports that ground beef is still the number one protein teens crave. The presentation also reveals the results of a recent school foodservice menu survey. The survey found that, like many quickservice restaurants, school foodservice operations are menuing big burgers and sandwiches, including trendy wrap, panini and focaccia sandwiches. The presentation also provides theme ideas for promoting beef at schools throughout the school year.

The new school foodservice recipe cards and trends presentation information are being promoted at the national level, but are primarily designed as tools for state beef councils to promote beef to schools in their states.

"State beef councils have a tremendous impact on marketing beef to schools," said Ken Davis, a cow/calf producer from Leesburg, Ohio, and chair of the beef industry’s Foodservice Committee. "With these materials, they can offer new recipe ideas and the latest trend information to help schools menu beef in ways that kids really love."

To obtain a copy of the "Beef Facts for School Foodservice" presentation for your local school, call 1-800-922-2373 or your state beef council.

-- NCBA --

Campaigns that promote beef in school foodservice are funded through the national beef checkoff, which is administered by the Beef Board. This 111-member board is appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture to oversee the collection of the $1-per-head checkoff, certify state beef councils, implement the provisions of the Federal order establishing the checkoff and evaluate the effectiveness of checkoff programs.

Initiated in 1898, NCBA is the marketing organization and trade association for America’s one million cattle ranchers and farmers. With offices in Denver, Chicago and Washington D.C., NCBA is a consumer-focused, producer-directed organization representing the largest segment of the nation’s food and fiber industry.