Growing Spanish-Speaking Population Offered Better Understanding of Beef Nutrition

DENVER (Oct. 22, 2004) – A growing Hispanic population in the U.S. is turning to the beef industry for nutrition information about beef products.  Thanks to the Beef Checkoff Program, the industry is responding with materials in Spanish they can more easily understand. 

Five nutrition handouts were translated into Spanish in 2003, and more than 180,000 have been distributed since December 2003.  A second printing of the handouts was completed in September 2004.

Beef industry nutrition education efforts are conducted on behalf of the Cattlemen’s Beef Board and state beef councils by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA).  The NCBA serves as one of the Beef Board’s contractors for checkoff-funded programs.

Checkoff-funded handouts translated into Spanish included The Tween Scene, Fitness Connection, Eating for 2?, Childhood Nutrition and Beef Nutrients that Work as Hard as You Do.  The materials are designed for use by health professionals in counseling specific audiences and will be especially effective with Spanish-speaking people from Mexico, Chile, Puerto Rico, Columbia, Venezuela and Argentina.

“Those in the U.S. Hispanic community like beef, but like all of us need reassurance that it’s a healthy part of the diet,” according to Cattlemen’s Beef Board member Dr. Om Sharma, a beef producer from Williamsport, Ind., and chairman of the Joint Health Professional Influencers Subcommittee.  “Our materials can go a long way toward further improving nutrition knowledge in this country and helping build beef demand by maintaining consumer confidence in the product.”

In 2005, there will be more than 38 million Hispanic consumers in the U.S. – more than 13 percent of the total U.S. population – according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.  If current growth rates are maintained, the U.S. Hispanic community would grow by more than 200 percent between the years 2000 and 2050.

Nutrition professionals visiting the beef booth at the 2004 American Dietetic Association Annual Food and Nutrition Conference and Expo in Anaheim, Calif. Oct. 3-5 had an opportunity to order complimentary copies of these materials.  In addition, the handouts are being distributed by state beef councils in areas with large Hispanic populations, and through the checkoff’s www.beefnutrition.org Web site.

“It’s an increasingly valuable audience for the beef industry,” says Sharma.  “We can’t afford to ignore any consumers who have an impact on the success we will have in marketing beef.”

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