2004 News Archive
Veal Featured on NBC's Today Show
Veal captured the national television spotlight this morning as the main entrée in the “How to Spice Up Your Holidays” segment on NBC’s Today show.
David Burke, executive chef at New York City’s davidburke & donatella restaurant demonstrated preparation of a five-course holiday dinner. Veal chops with lemon and pink peppercorn crust were prominently featured as the dinner’s main entrée. The veal chops prepared on the segment were provided by Lobel’s of New York City.
Increasing veal’s national exposure and positioning veal as a holiday entrée are important goals of the Beef Checkoff Program. Veal industry programs are coordinated 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.
“Seeing veal featured as a holiday entrée in front of a large national television audience is very gratifying,” said Betty McCullough, a veal producer from Mount Victory, OH, and member of the Joint Veal Committee. “Features like this are exactly the kind of exposure and positioning we need to show the public that veal is a delicious and creative option for holiday meals.”
Gaining exposure on national morning television programs has been a key consumer publicity strategy for the Beef Checkoff Program in 2004. A single appearance on the Today show reaches an estimated 6.6 million viewers. This segment marked veal’s fifth such appearance this year, as it has also been featured on Fox Network’s morning show Fox and Friends.
“The checkoff program does a great job of promoting veal through advertisements, but its role in securing this type of media exposure is sometimes overlooked,” McCullough added. “This is publicity that money simply can’t buy.”
The Beef Checkoff Program was established as part of the 1985 Farm Bill. The checkoff assesses $1 per head on the sale of live domestic and imported cattle, in addition to a comparable assessment on imported beef and beef products. States retain up to 50 cents on the dollar and forward the other 50 cents per head to the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board, which administers the national checkoff program, subject to USDA approval. The checkoff assessment became mandatory when the program was approved by 79 percent of producers in a 1988 national referendum vote. Checkoff revenues may be used for promotion, education and research programs to improve the marketing climate for beef.
Producer-directed and consumer-focused, the NCBA is the trade association of America’s cattle farmers and ranchers, and the marketing organization for the largest segment of the nation’s food and fiber industry.