Veal Industry Public Relations Campaign Wins Top Award

DENVER (Jan. 14, 2005) –  The veal industry has captured a top regional award for a recent, beef checkoff-funded public relations campaign that positioned veal as a versatile and consumer-friendly entrée, with celebrity chefs and other culinary experts highlighting these attributes of veal. Reinventing Veal’s Image won first place in the category of Overall Public Relations at the National Agri-Marketing Association’s (NAMA) Region II “Best of NAMA” banquet Jan. 6 in Kansas City, Mo. 

Increasing consumer awareness of veal is an important goal 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.

“The checkoff program did a great job of stretching very limited resources to create a targeted public relations campaign to promote and highlight veal as nutritious, delicious and easy to prepare.” said Michael Mosner, a veal packer from the Bronx, N.Y., and chair of the Joint Veal Committee. “I am pleased to see these efforts honored by NAMA, and the recognition is well-deserved.”

Having received a first place award at the regional level, Reinventing Veal’s Image is now eligible to advance to judging for NAMA’s national awards given later this year. 

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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.