SPARKING A REVOLUTION

Industry experts reflect on 30 years of producer-funded research.

By Jena McRell

Mike Jarzombek was 18 years old when he first reported to work in H-E-B’s meat department. Growing up on his family’s ranch near Poth, he understood the commitment and care required when raising cattle.

On that day in the late 1980s, his career-long education in retail beef merchandising was about to begin.

It was also a time when the U.S. beef industry stood at a crossroads. Ranchers struggled to squeeze profits out of tight margins, while consumers were cautioned against red meat consumption and questioned beef’s nutritional value. Demand waned. Prices suffered. And the future looked bleak.

In light of this uncertainty, cattle raisers across the Southwest and nation did what they are known to do — got to work. They spoke up, asked hard questions, and invested in research to fully understand the pitfalls and opportunities the industry faced.

When the 1985 Farm Bill authorized the national, dollar-perhead Beef Checkoff, it spurred research concepts into action. Because of these efforts, today’s cattle business paints an entirely different picture than it did three decades ago.

“The work you all have done with genetics and everything that you are doing [to improve quality] has helped immensely,” said Jarzombek, who is now senior vice president of sales and merchandising for H-E-B’s northwest division in Dallas. “It has helped us as retailers continue selling beef.”

Along with four other industry experts, Jarzombek took the stage March 24 during the opening session of the 2023 Cattle Raisers Convention & Expo in Fort Worth. Texas Beef Council Executive Vice President Molly McAdams moderated the hour-long discussion titled, “Sparks that Accelerated Beef Demand.”

Aptly named, expert panel reflected on several sparks that ignited a brighter future for the beef community.

Playing Up Protein

A registered dietitian and nutrition scientist, Shalene McNeill admitted nutrition is an evolutionary science. She earned her doctorate in human nutrition from Texas A&M University in 1997; and has spent more than 15 years as executive director of nutrition science, health and wellness for National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.

For many years, the beef industry was playing defense and reacting to dietary concerns about fat, carbohydrates and cholesterol.

In the ‘90s, the focus was positioning lean beef as part of a healthy diet. The 1980 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, and subsequent federal recommendations that followed in later years, resulted in more consumers questioning the nutritional merits of the food they were consuming. And red meat did not fare well.

A physician and rancher from Texas was among the first to raise a hand and offer a different perspective.

Within his practice, Dr. Dick Sherron, of Beaumont, reported seeing cases of frailty and muscle loss among aging populations.

The Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association past president and Texas Beef Council director, at the time, led the Beef Checkoff’s nutrition research committee and suggested lessening the focus on fat and elevating the positives in beef, namely protein.

“That really changed the whole conversation that we are having about beef and health today,” McNeill said.

Research validated beef’s beneficial role in a healthy diet as an excellent source of protein and 10 essential nutrients including B-vitamins, zinc and iron.

Protein’s power spread quickly. New products lined grocery store shelves and touted high protein levels, but McNeill said none provided the same level of protein and nutrients as efficiently as beef.

“Protein changed everything, because now we’re on the offense and talking about why you need beef protein,” she said. “And it’s also the important nutrients like iron and zinc.”

Consumers today have given beef a vote of confidence, too. A recent report from the Checkoff-funded Consumer Beef Tracker showed consumers ranked beef over chicken as a nutritious food (see Figure 1).

“Beef is one ingredient with 24 grams of protein and 150 calories,” McNeill said. “It can’t be replicated because you have not only the nutrition, but also the taste. And all of a sudden now, we’re looked at as a driver of beef demand.”

TENDERNESS & QUALITY

In the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, beef quality was also called into question.

The industry’s first National Beef Tenderness survey reported that one out of every four steaks was deemed unacceptably tough by consumers.

Discussion panelist Mandy Carr Johnson, senior executive director of scientific affairs at National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, said when producer leadership saw this data, they knew it was a critical moment to act.

“We had to start working to address this challenge,” said Johnson, who holds a doctorate in meat science from Texas Tech University. “Key research studies were initiated like the beef genome project that looked at key markers utilized to predict things like marbling and other tenderness qualities.”

Once available, producers responded by incorporating the information into selection decisions and management on the ranch. Research also revealed ways to improve tenderness at the wholesale level. Slow and steady progress translated into real results (see Figure 2).

“Gradually, the number of steaks that consumers considered tough and unacceptable started going down,” Johnson said. “And it really gave us the opportunity to provide better products for our partners down the supply chain.”

Another fundamental driver in beef research is the National Beef Quality Audit, a survey conducted every five years that measures opportunities and progress.

In 1991, the audit reported a high incidence rate of injection site lesions — a major concern for product quality, especially in high-value cuts.

“Back then, we saw it a lot, particularly in the sirloin,” Jarzombek said. “All of that product was downgraded or just lost. In the retail business, yield loss is significant.”

Through Beef Quality Assurance programs offered in partnership with Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, Texas Cattle Feeders Association, Texas A&M AgriLife Extension and Texas Beef Council, producers gained the necessary know-how to improve these practices. And it worked.

Jarzombek said instances are now few and far between, and they rarely see lesions in the sirloin anymore.

Dan Halstrom, president and CEO of U.S. Meat Export Federation, told the audience of cattle raisers the benefits go beyond domestic borders.

“This change has been huge for us globally,” said Halstrom, referencing Asian and Latin American markets that incorporate thinly sliced beef as part of their cuisine. “Any type of lesion or defect was a real problem back around 2000 or earlier. Today, I can’t tell you the last time we heard a complaint.”

A more consistent supply of high-quality product has sent positive ripple effects throughout the entire beef chain.

“We are getting the best of both worlds,” McNeill said. “We’re seeing leaner and higher quality beef. That’s a win-win for consumers, as well as the industry.”

GOLD-STANDARD SAFETY

When unwrapping a package of steaks from the local grocery store or pulling a pound of ground beef from the freezer, product safety hardly comes to mind.

That is not by accident. It is the result of years of research and dedicated efforts to ensure product safety at every level of the beef supply chain.

Like the panel of experts at the recent Cattle Raisers Convention & Expo, those who lived through the 1993 E. coli recall or first BSE case in the U.S. in 2003 have clear memory of the repercussions that followed.

McAdams recalled how the industry immediately took action after the E. coli recall and formed a blue-ribbon task force to investigate food safety interventions for pre-harvest and beyond.

For H-E-B, Jarzombek said among the outcomes was a sophisticated monitoring system. Today, every batch of ground beef is scanned and source material is electronically stored.

“It’s something that we live and breathe every day,” he added. “We take it very seriously, because we can’t lose that customer trust.”

It is trust painstakingly earned by each selection and management decision on the ranch, and process and protocol employed at the packer and retail. From 1999 to 2011, more than $30 million Beef Checkoff dollars were invested in product safety.

“When buyers around the world see our products, our beef products in a U.S. establishment number box, safety is assumed — and that is not by chance,” Halstrom said. “It comes with years of hard work. We have a reputation as the gold standard in the world around safety.”