Meat + Poultry - April 2004 - 68

Over herd

❝

I can eat 1.75 pounds
of chicken wings in
eight minutes. But is

❞

that what I want to be
known for?

- Peter Duffy, third place winner in this year's
"Battle to the Bone," chicken wing eating
contest, held in Madison Square Garden.
(Source: Newsweek magazine)

Deep purple
Purple meat is back. Well, at least it is back at
Wegmans Food Markets, the retailer based
in Rochester, N.Y. The company is selling the
product out of its fresh meat case. To help educate consumers, the retailer has put together
a brochure to help consumers understand the
benefits of purple meat.
Industry veterans will recall when Excel
Corp., Wichita, Kan., tried to introduce purple
case-ready beef in the mid-1980s. Despite a
significant investment to get the program off of
the ground, they ended up shutting it down a
few years later.
The subject came up during a panel discussion on case-ready trends at the Annual Meat
Conference, held this year in Nashville. As
one participant noted, it looks like the caseready meat segment has come full circle, with
companies bringing back old ideas and trying
them again.

A sensitive subject
Speaking of the Annual Meat Conference, one speaker, whose presentation covered the
evolution of case-ready technology, was asked politely to stop identifying Wal-Mart, Bentonville, Ark., during his presentation. This year's A.M.C. featured concurrent sessions and
each was repeated the following day so attendees could attend more than one session.
On day one, Wal-Mart's decision to sell case-ready meats was included in the presentation. Apparently a couple of Wal-Mart representatives in the audience took exception to the
mention and later asked that it be omitted. On day two, things changed and it was noted
the case-ready market took a big leap forward when a "certain big box store started selling case-ready meat."
We'll just pretend no one knew who he was talking about.

Slow cooked meals fast
Walking through the fresh meat department of our local Safeway the other day, a product
new to the store caught our eye - Simply Simmered Meals. We're big fans of the Crock-pot,
and the idea of a convenience-oriented product that can mimic the flavor of a slow cooked
meal was intriguing.
Based in Seattle, Wash., the company sells a line of products that includes Sweet & Sour
chicken, Garlic chicken, Fiesta chicken, etc. The company claims to use a patented cooking process where ingredients are sealed in a specially designed cooking pouch and slowly
cooked at low temperatures. The cooking pouch acts as a slow cooker locking in the flavors
associated with slow cooking. All consumers have to do is heat the entrée in the microwave.
After trying the Garlic chicken, we think these folks might be on to something. We'd really
like to see what they can do with a pot roast.

Primeribbing

Brought to you by
MEAT&POULTRY Magazine.

Cartoon by Bob Bliss

Don't pass on gas
Karen Post, a.k.a. the "Branding Diva," offered
attendees of the Annual Meat Conference a
good idea - Why not advertise your products in
the areas where people are buying propane?
"I have to imagine a lot of those people are
getting gas for their grills," she said. "Doesn't
it make sense to put your brand in front of the
people who are going to go home, fire up the
grill and probably grill some meat?"
We think it does.

MEAT&POULTRY

www.MEATPOULTRY.com

APRIL 2004

http://www.MEATPOULTRY.com

Meat + Poultry - April 2004

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