Small cattle numbers has a national foodservice distributor thinking beyond boxed beef. Performance Food Group develops and sells meat products to more than 150,000 independent and national restaurants and food service establishments. One of their unique products is their branded beef program called Braveheart Black Angus Beef. Performance Food Group Meat scientist and Director of Protein Dr. Brad Morgan said Braveheart Black Angus Beef has a story associated with the product. Through their DNA traceability program, they verify each animal has Black Angus influence. Morgan said the program also rewards smaller and lighter weight carcasses in having an 850 pound cutoff.
“That allows for rib eyes, strip loins and top sirloin butts to be marketed as lights, which would be 15 pounds or less,” Morgan said. “Not very many people have those any more today, so that drives a lot of sales right there.”
Through the process, each carcass is sampled for DNA. If a customer has a problem with any Braveheart Black Angus beef product, Morgan said they request a sample of the product for testing. They then can go back and identify the animal, where the animal originated, where it was fed and what day it was slaughtered. He said they can get results back to the customer in less than seven days and they will also replace the product. The program is available for ground beef and muscle cuts.
The beef industry has faced a number of challenges from providing a great eating experience every time, to telling the story of agriculture and also being proactive. Morgan said Braveheart Black Angus beef addresses all of those issues.
“We’re doing that now, we probably should have always done this, but because of the low cattle numbers and we’re not slaughtering as many animals, we have to become more efficient and try to make more money on a per head basis,” Morgan said. “These valued-added type programs are actually doing real well and they are putting more money in everyone’s pocket book.”
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