2004 News Archive
Beef Checkoff Program Helps Fund American Heart Association's Lean Beef Cookbooklet
In conjunction with the American Heart Association (AHA), beef checkoff dollars have funded a heart-healthy recipe “cookbooklet” that features lean beef cuts, along with cooking tips and nutritional information. The AHA’s “Six Simple Steps to Good Nutrition” are included, as well as tips on how to include beef as part of a heart-healthy diet. The booklet also provides useful information comparing the fatty acid content of beef to that of chicken, tuna, salmon and olive oil.
The glossy recipe booklet, boldly branded with AHA’s familiar logo, features 14 lean beef recipes, with full-color photos. Recipes for such dishes as Gyros-Style Steak Pitas, Burgundy Beef and Vegetable Stew, Beef Lasagna Rolls and Italian Beef Stir-Fry are included.
This project was 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.
“This cookbooklet is an excellent way to remind consumers, health professionals and media that lean beef can play an important role in a heart-healthy diet,” said Cattlemen’s Beef Board member Wade Zimmerman, a beef producer from Sugar City, Colo., and chairman of the beef industry’s Joint Nutrition and Health committee.
State Beef Councils are also working with AHA affiliates to promote and distribute 100,000 copies of the booklet. In Colorado, one of the recipes will be distributed to attendees at the AHA affiliate’s inaugural women’s luncheon in May 2005. The Oklahoma Beef Council is sponsoring eight AHA women’s luncheons in the state, at which a lean beef meal will be served. The Beef Council will also make a brief presentation at each luncheon, and distribute a cookbooklet to each attendee.
The cost for the booklet is $2 plus shipping. Shipments to State Beef Councils will begin in January 2005.
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.