A new beef checkoff-funded nutrition tool called The Healthy Beef Cookbook is showing up on bookstore shelves all over the country.  The book, a collaborative effort between the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the American Dietetic Association, contains 130 easy-to-fix recipes that are delicious and packed with nutrients.  

David Dick is a beef producer and chairman of the Missouri Beef Industry Council.  He says the cookbook is a logical extension of the industry’s beef nutrition education effort.

Cut #1         :12          Outcue: "...it’s also accepted."

Dick, who also serves as vice chairman of the Joint Nutrition and Health Committee, says beef producers should feel proud of this checkoff-funded book, which was three years in the making.   

Cut #2         :34          Outcue: "...and tastes good.”

Nutrition is one area beef producers serving in leadership positions have made a priority the past few years.

Cut #3         :37          Outcue: "...what we need to do."

According to Dick, often healthy eating recommendations made to consumers stress a balance of foods and nutrients.

Cut #4         :20          Outcue: "...in the consumers’ hand."

Nutrition education and information efforts such as The Healthy Beef Cookbook are coordinated on behalf of America’s Beef Producers and the Cattlemen’s Beef Board by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.  The beef producer members of the Beef Board administer the $1-per-head Beef Checkoff Program. Oversight is provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The national Beef Checkoff Program is administered by the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board, a group of 108 beef producers appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture.  They represent producers from coast-to-coast and volunteer their time to help identify programs that can help increase beef demand.  The checkoff was created in the 1985 Farm Bill, with oversight provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The checkoff assesses $1 per head on the sale of live domestic and imported cattle and a comparable assessment on imported beef and beef products. States retain up to 50 cents on the dollar and forward the other 50 cents to the Cattlemen’s Beef Board, which administers the national checkoff program, subject to USDA approval.