FOUR PRODUCTS EARN TOP AWARDS IN BEST NEW BEEF PRODUCTS COMPETITION

DENVER, CO (August 2, 2000) -- Four new beef products were recognized as winners of the checkoff-funded Best New Beef Products Awards 2000 at the Cattle Industry Summer Conference in Denver, Colo, today.  The contest identified and will promote great-tasting, convenient products that are helping revitalize the beef industry, and will help expand this important beef category to increase demand.

Winners were: 

• Best New Retail Beef Product – RMH Foods Inc. Quick-N-Easy ® Bourbon Street Top Sirloin Steaks made with Certified Angus Beef ™

• Best New Foodservice Product -- King’s Command Foods’ (Fully Cooked) Old Fashioned Style Beef Patties

• Best New Beef Product Marketed by a Small Company -- Eaves Foods, Inc. BUBBA burger ™ made with Certified Angus Beef ™

• Most Innovative, Commercially Promising New Beef Product – Harris Ranch Beef Company’s Fully-Cooked Western Style Beef Stew

A total of $250,000 will be shared by the firms to help promote these products and/or develop new ones.  Best new retail and foodservice products each earned $100,000, while the Best New Product Marketed by a Small Company and Most Innovative, Commercially Promising New Product each received $25,000.  RMH Foods Inc. Quick-N-Easy ® Bourbon Street Top Sirloin Steaks also received Grand Champion honors but will receive no additional prize monies.

Winners were selected by an independent Award Selection Committee of retail and restaurant industry leaders.  Nearly 100 entries from 30 different companies were judged.  Criteria included the taste of the product, whether the product meets consumers` or restaurant operators` changing needs, and other factors.

According to George Hall, a beef producer from Mustang, Okla. and president of the National Cattlemen`s Beef Association (NCBA), convenience is a key issue for today`s consumer, and this contest is helping push that issue forward for beef producers.  "By acting as a catalyst in the manufacturing sector, we stimulate consumer interest in beef products and in turn increase the demand for beef," Hall says.  "Adding value to beef products gives consumers more choices and provides them more benefits from beef.  This in turn generates a higher demand for -- and increased value in -- our animals."

This is the second time the industry has presented this award, which was developed to stimulate and reward innovative beef product development and help build distribution and demand for successful beef products that address the changing needs of consumers.  The Best New Beef Product Award,  funded by the Cattlemen`s Beef Board and coordinated by NCBA, was first presented at the January, 1998 Cattle Industry Convention.

Since that time, the prevalence of convenient beef products tempting the taste-buds of Americans has skyrocketed.  According to ACNeilsen/IRI data, sales of prepared beef items at supermarkets through June 2000 have grown more than 67 percent (or $47 million) versus sales two years ago. 

To help make this possible, the industry also has used checkoff dollars to work with larger brands to expand their convenient beef offerings.  In the past 12 months alone, companies such as Stouffers, Louis Rich, Hormel and General Mills each have added pre-cooked and/or value-added beef items to their lines, thus expanding the number of easy beef items available for today’s busy consumers.  Through their $1-per-head checkoff, producers have also embarked on a major effort to educate consumers about the bundle of nutrients beef contains so they feel more confident purchasing beef more often. 

“Our checkoff-funded convenience and nutrition programs are making an impact on the demand for beef," according to Hall.  "It`s adding to the bottom lines of the hard-working producers who work in America’s cattle industry.  Every new consumer dollar spent on beef increases the profit opportunities for beef producers.”

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This promotion program is funded by beef producers through the national beef checkoff, administered by the Cattlemen`s Beef Board. This 110-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.

Producer-directed and consumer-focused, the National Cattlemen`s Beef Association 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.