January 2, 2007

Cargill to market first national ground beef brand

Cargill is turning to ground beef for its national branding efforts, according to  Witchita Business Journal.

The company is aggressively marketing its ground beef under the brand Meadowlands Farms, which also offers sirloin, chuck and ground beef cuts. Ground beef has up to now been regarded as a commodity product and thus not been branded.

In what may be an emerging trend among retailers, around 500 stores in the US West Coast, Midwest and Northeast have signed up for the brand. The endorsements for branding may also be a nod to food safety and tracing after a series of beef recalls last year.

Cargill's three plants which manufactures the ground beef are also strategically spread in three of the four main US regions, with one in California, Wisconsin and the last in Pennsylvania. The geographical spread of the plants meant that more than a third of the US population lives within an 8-hour drive from the plant, making it possible to deliver fresh ground beef to a large swathe of the population.

The three plants have a combined production of 4 million  pounds yearly.

Ivan Brown, brand manager at Cargill, told the journal that although the beef comes from a national brand, people would like to know it comes from a local place.  

Ground beef makes up half the meat sales of a US grocery store. 

In November last year, Cargill Meat Solutions Corporation recalled almost a million pounds of beef due to possible contamination of E. coli.