A24-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, November 10,2001
Seminar Details Beef Safety, Marketing Issues
Speakers during this week’s “Beef 100” include, from
left, Paula Leuenberger, director of nutrition and health at
the Pennsylvania Beef Council (PBC); Carrie Bomgardner,
promotions director at PBC; Catherine Cutter, depart
ment of food science at Penn State; and William Henning,
extension meat scientist.
MICHELLE KUNJAPPU
Lancaster Farming Staff
LANCASTER (Lancaster Co.)
“Beef 100,” a one-day seminar
to instruct extension agents, drew
17 participants who watched a
cooking demonstration, sampled
beef, and were educated about
beef nutrition, food safety, case
ready beef, foodservice and retail
trends, and diseases.
Conducted at the Farm and
Home Center Monday, the
speakers presented the program
again on Tuesday at the West
moreland County extension of
fice in Greensburg.
The event is conducted “every
few years to bring everyone up to
speed on the new beef safety and
marketing issues,” said William
Henning, extension meat scientist
at Penn State.
Beef Nutrition
During the morning session
Paula Leuenberger, director of
nutrition and health at the Penn
sylvania Beef Council, cited sev
eral studies to show beefs impor
tance in diet and also pointed out
several nutrition resources avail
able.
Nutrition and science facts re-
lated to beef are available at
www.beefnutrition.org. Food
safety, recipes, and selection,
preparation, and cooking inform
ation are located on the site.
The www.teachfiree.com site is
a site for teachers who can order
online or download information
and resources, especially for pre
school through 12th grade educa
tors.
The www.burgertown.com site
caters to children’s interests with
games, nutrition fun facts and
recipes shared by other children.
Important beef nutrition con
siderations were also part of
Leuenberger’s program. She cited
a study that illustrated that lean
beef can be effectively incorporat
ed into a low-fat diet plan to
lower blood cholesterol. The
study showed no advantage for
substituting chicken and fish for
lean beef within the context of a
low-fat diet.
Case-Ready Beef
William Henning, extension
meat scientist, discussed new de
velopments in meat packaging
and merchandising. Henning
opened by presenting his “case
for case-ready beef,” a method of
bringing beef to the grocery store
already cut, packaged, and ready
to be merchandised.
Case-ready comes through two
avenues, said Henning central
ized cutting centers or Modified
Atmosphere Packaging (MAP).
Chain grocery stores are looking
at the benefits of having a central
facility to cut, wrap, and even
price the beef for all stores.
In the future, said Henning,
meat cutters would be available
to answer questions and provide
meal solutions to consumers. In
addition stores would be able to
use the space to display addition
al products and cut down on the
cost of meat-cutting equipment at
each location.
The “modified atmosphere” in
the package is achieved through
evacuating all air from the pack
age and flushing it with oxygen,
nitrogen, or carbon dioxide com
binations.
Two options are a high
amount (80 percent) of oxygen to
keep the fresh-looking red bloom
of the meat and a smaller
amount (20 percent) of carbon di
oxide, which deters bacterial
growth.
A MAP package such as this
would have a shelf life of 14 days.
Currently, most MAP meat is
ground beef, said Henning. An
other MAP option is the package
which has exclusively nitrogen
and carbon dioxide. The package
has an oxygen-permeable clear
overwrap that is pulled off at the
grocery store, allowing oxygen to
enter and cause the familiar red
bloom in the beef.
Beef pH
Since color is one of the most
important sensory characteristic
that makes beef desirable as food,
that makes it worth attention,
according to Henning.
Knowing the temperature beef
should be cooked prevents con
sumers from “throwing beef on
the grill until it is brown. Having
a thermometer is a good way to
prevent overcooking you’ll
gauge it a lot better than just by
eye,” said Henning.
As a rule, pH in a carcass de-
clines after slaughter. The extent
and rate of a pH decline, said
Henning, affects quality. A slow,
steady decline is desirable to pro
duce a darker color and higher
water-holding capacity.
If the beef has a pH of 7.0 or
higher, it can stay pink even at
165 degrees fahrenheit, so con
sumers cannot always apply the
“cook until juices run clear” rec
ommendation.
Meat Enhancing
A practice common to pork is
now being used in beef, said Hen
ning. “Enhanced beef’ is beef
that is injected with water and
low levels of salt, and phosphate,
which aids in water retention, to
improve tenderness and compen
sate for overcooking.
Additionally, injecting beef im
proves shelf-Ufe, color stability,
and water holding capacity. If
the cut is enhanced it must be
noted on the label, he said.
This adds greater variety to
beef selections for consumers,
since a greater amount of cuts
will be more tender and can be
prepared in different styles.
Connecting With
The Consumer
Carrie Bomgardner, promo
tions director at the Pennsylvania
Beef Council, spoke about con
sumer trends in retail and food
service channels.
“If we’re going to move beef,
we need to focus on convenience
and nutrition,’’ said Bomgardner.
Citing NCBA recent research,
Bomgardner taught the audience
about “the convenience revolu
tion” that has occurred since
nearly 60 percent of America’s
women are not only working, but
working longer hours than in
years past.
According to research, fewer
dinners are being made from
scratch and recipe use is declin
ing. Also fewer homemade items
and fresh foods are appearing on
the table.
For trends in the retail chan
nel, Bomgardner pointed out that
for beef, the protein’s share per
capita expenditures has nearly
doubled in the last SO years when
Homestead Nutrition, Inc.
people eat out.
“As we look at all these trends,
convenience has been identified
as a major driver of beef con
sumption, and we take that cue
from chicken,” said Bomgardner.
Convenience, she said, can be a
marinated tenderloin or full-as
sembled kabobs, not necessarily
just a precooked product.
In the foodservice sector, the
restaurant market is growing.
Half of the U.S. food dollar is
now spent in restaurants, said
Bomgardner. Beef accounted for
7.2 billion beef servings in com
mercial restaurants in 1999.
Beef Safety
Catherine Cutter, from the de
partment of food science at Penn
State, discussed pathogens in
slaughter and the meat industry’s
efforts to produce a safe product.
Trimming, chemical dehairing,
spray washing, a steam vacuum
sanitizer, and steam pasteuriza
tion are all methods of reducing
or eliminating contamination.
Ninety-five percent of carcass
contamination comes from the
hide.
Dehairing the carcass with so
dium sulfide, a water rinse, a
neutralizer (hydrogen peroxide)
and a fined water rinse reduces
visible contamination and is in
hospitable to bacteria growth.
The process, which takes 10-15
minutes per carcass, results in
improved hides and lowered con
tamination, but may cost more
for the processor.
Spray washing cleanses the
carcass with an antimicrobial
water and mist. A steam vacuum
sanitizer throws 165-degree water
and steam at the same time onto
the carcass and vacuums the
moisture. Steam pasteurization, a
$1 million system, is a fast steam,
followed by cold water, process to
kill bacteria.
Irradiation, hydrostatic pres
sure, electric fields, pulsed light,
microwaves, and antimicrobial
incorporated films in packaging
are other technologies used to de
contaminate carcasses.
(Turn to Page A 26)