SEVEN-MINUTE POT ROAST SELECTED FOR $250,000 PRIZE

DENVER, Feb. 4, 1998---Harris Ranch Beef Company of Selma, Calif. received the $250,000 Centennial Award for the "Best New Beef Product in America" for its fully-cooked, ready-to-heat-and-eat-in-seven-minutes pot roast, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. (NCBA) announced today during the Cattle Industry Centennial Convention and Trade Show.

The first of its kind, the "Best New Beef Product in America" award was designed to recognize the efforts of innovative companies that are meeting the needs of today's consumers. The products were judged on a series of criteria including: whether or not the product was branded, newness, taste, addressing consumers' changing needs, and effectively addressing food safety issues. "When you consider that 40 percent of American's do not know at 4:00 p.m. what they will cook for dinner that night, having a 7-minute pot roast that tastes like the kind mom use to make, fits the bill," said rancher and NCBA Vice President George Swan, Rogerson, Id. "When it comes to meal planning, Americans want food that tastes like it took a lot of effort, but in reality was prepared with no fuss, no muss. Harris Ranch Beef Company and other finalists are meeting this challenge."

The product was selected from over 50 entries by a distinguished panel of seven food and meat industry representatives including: Derrick Penick, vice president, The Kroger Company; Anthony Wilson, senior vice president, Marriott Management Services; Tim Soufan, director, TGI Friday's; William Fielding, past president, Cargill and Monfort Fresh Meat Operations; Mike Charlton, publisher, Restaurant Business; Richard (Dee) Reviere, marketing director, Cryovac; and George Swan, vice president, NCBA.

The winning pot roast is made from beef brisket with natural seasonings and slow-cooked for 61/2 hours. The natural juices from the beef and the seasonings combine to produce delicious, dark beef gravy. The pot roast is finally prepared by heating for seven minutes in the microwave.

"We're very excited to have received this honor from NCBA," said John Harris, corporate chairman/owner of Harris Ranch. "We think products such as our fully-cooked pot roast will play a major role in the beef industry of the future because they provide consumers with quality, good nutrition, convenience and great taste." Harris added that his company has additional new products slated for introduction in 1998, each utilizing different cuts of beef in recipes that would traditionally take several hours to prepare. "We're taking the work out of preparing beef so our customers can serve traditional meals even when they're pressed for time," he said.

The four other finalists in the contest include: Bil Mar/Sara Lee Flame Roasted Beef; Burnett and Son Beef Pot Roast in Gravy; RMH/Certified Angus Beef Pot Roast with gravy; and RMH/Certified Angus Beef Prime Rib with Au Jus. "Most of these products use the chuck and the round portions of the carcass, which, along with trimmings, represents 75 percent of the carcass," said Swan. "However, these portions have decreased in value over the years as consumer needs have changed. By developing new products from these cuts, consumers will be able to eat their favorite beef meals without spending all day in the kitchen. The award, along with other marketing and product development programs, will help spur even more new products in the marketplace."

The "Best New Beef Product in America" award is funded by the national beef checkoff, administered by the Cattlemen's Beef Board. This 111-member board is appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture to oversee the collection of the $1-per-head checkoff, to certify state beef councils, to implement the provisions of the Federal order establishing the checkoff and to evaluate the effectiveness of checkoff programs.

Initiated in 1898, the National Cattlemen's Beef Association 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.

###