10:00 am - 11:00 am & 2:45 pm - 4:00 pm
Yuma 29-30 Rooms
Joint Nutrition & Health Committee
Wade Zimmerman, Chair; Steve Smola, Vice Chair

Members of the Joint Nutrition and Health Committee of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) and the Cattlemen’s Beef Board met Jan. 30 at the 2004 Cattle Industry Convention and Trade Show in Phoenix to review highlights of a recent study on consumer demand and an update from the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee.

Michael Utez presented the audience a summary of the findings of an in-market research test conducted in Arizona and North Carolina. The objective of the project was to improve consumer attitudes about beef using on-package nutrition information and/or labeling and to encourage retailers and suppliers to put a nutrient facts panel including beef’s key micronutrients on all packages of fresh meat, Utez said. Its goal is “to document, through market research, the response from consumers to nutrition information and/or labeling on packages of fresh meat in the meatcase.”

Research indicated that the message was getting through to consumers who purchased more of the labeled beef, he said. The research also showed an added benefit to retailers in the consumer likeliness to shop at stores carrying the added label.

Mary Young, NCBA executive director of nutrition, joined the meeting via speakerphone to discuss the results of the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee meeting in Washington D.C., from which she had just returned.

The committee chose not to remove nuts from the meat group of the food guide pyramid, which will benefit beef in that those calories will not be subtracted from that category. The recommended servings of meat will also remain at its current level. Young said she was pleased with the overall meeting.


— Cara Bieroth