Your beef checkoff investment is opening new doors for consumers looking for nutritious eating choices. So, while you are focused on raising the world’s most nutritious beef, your beef checkoff is busy opening new doors for beef by showing consumers how beef is a powerful source of protein.
“Consumers are very concerned about the nutritional value of the food they eat,” says Joan Ruskamp, a Nebraska cattle feeder and chairman of the Cattlemen’s Beef Promotion and Research Board (CBB).
“We need to do everything we can to explain to our customers why beef is the healthy choice.”
Ruskamp says she is committed to helping consumers understand the health benefits of beef, and one of the channels being used by the checkoff is social media, which is a powerful force in communicating with consumers.
“Social media is where consumers are getting inaccurate information about beef, so that is the first place where we need to make sure that we are providing accurate information,” she says. “Everything we do through social channels directs people to the ‘Beef. It’s What’s for Dinner.’ website where they can learn why beef is the healthy choice for every meal.”
Research pays off
Research has always played an important role in the checkoff’s ability to respond to changing consumer demands. With more lean cuts available than ever before, beef gives consumers the high nutritional value they’re looking for, with a relatively low calorie count.
One place you can see the results of that beef checkoff investment is at the meat counter.
“Just 10 years ago, only nine cuts of beef qualified as lean,” Ruskamp points out. “However, thanks to product development funded through the beef checkoff, consumers now have 40 cuts to choose from. And we have developed recipes for those cuts to make meal preparation convenient and easy.”
There is also checkoff-funded research studies that look at nutrition, such as BOLD—Beef in an Optimal Lean Diet—that are also paying dividends by proving that lean beef lowers bad cholesterol.
“We have the research to back up why people should include beef in their diet,” says Ruskamp. “It’s not based on our opinion but on sound, factual proof that beef is loaded with nutrients, it’s low in calories and good for you; and, you can include it in your diet and be healthier for it.”
“Sure we like the taste, the flavor and the smell of beef,” Ruskamp says, “but if it’s not good for us, consumers aren’t going to buy it.”
