Supermarket Perimeter - July 2019 - 45

TRENDING FOR
SUMMER, TRENDING
YEAR-ROUND
Clean label options abound
In the "never ever" realm,
meanwhile, Tyson Fresh Meats is
meeting soaring demand with its
Open Prairie Natural Meats pork
products, which are minimally
processed and have no artiﬁcial
ingredients, no antibiotics and no
added hormones.
"We've seen an increase in
demand of 'never ever' products
from retailers as consumers are
requesting more of these attribute
products from them," Worpel
says. "We ﬁnd that consumers are
more engaged and interested in
learning where their food comes
from and have a desire to understand the meat products they're
consuming and serving to their
families."
Convenience also continues to
be a key driver for pork purchases
in retail because of the lack of
time or skill to create unique meal
experiences for some consumers,
Eaheart says.
At the same time, however,
those same consumers don't
want to skimp on ﬂavor and meal
variety, he says.
"We've seen interest increase
for the Prairie Fresh Signature
Cook-In Bag products because
it offers consumers a simple and
easy meal solution," Eaheart says,
referring to a Seaboard pork product that offers convenience without sacriﬁcing ﬂavor. "Prepping is
super simple. Preheat the oven,
place the bag on an oven-safe
baking pan, cut a vent hole and
cook. Plus, it's offered in a variety
of seasonings for interesting ﬂavor
proﬁles and meal variety."
Because it's so easy to prepare,
Eaheart says, the consumer can
focus on completing side dishes
and other dinner details while it's

cooking. "We can't forget about
a certain segment of consumers
who are drawn to not having to
touch the raw meat with a cookin bag pork product."
When it comes to merchandising pork in supermarkets,
self-serve has the clear advantage
over full-service, Worpel says.
"Customers prefer to look at
the products, pick up meat in the
packaging to determine which
piece they want, and have the
convenience of not working with
a person or waiting for a piece
from behind a counter," she says.
One exception, she points out,
is smaller, specialty meat retailers
that have the majority of their
fresh meat products, if not all,
behind a case.
For Tyson, great pork starts
with healthy animals, Worpel
says. "Animal welfare is a key
priority for us. We're committed to
becoming the leader in animal experience, research and innovation
by having the most transparent
animal welfare practices in food."
As part of that commitment,
Tyson works closely with independent, family-operated hog
farms who share in these values.
Through its FarmCheck program,
Tyson uses third-party auditors to
check for such things as animal
access to food and water, as well
as proper human-animal interaction and worker training at its
supplier partners.
Open Prairie Natural Meats
products, meanwhile, come with
the "Openness Promise," which
guarantees that Tyson is continually working to enhance communications and transparency with
all of its partners, from its independent farmers and ranchers to
its customers, Worpel says.
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With summer in full swing, Tyson Fresh Meats is focused on grilling season, in which pork plays a starring
role. "The biggest trend we see during grilling season
is going back to traditional, barbecue season cuts:
ribs, pulled pork and chops," says Ozlem Worpel,
senior brand manager. "These are typically most popular in the summer, and this year is no different."
Another summer favorite, says David Eaheart, senior
director of communications and brand marketing for
Seaboard Foods, is pork ribs, and in the pork section
of the retail meat case, ribs continue to gain sales.
"Consumers look to this stand-by to experiment on
the backyard grill or smoker for a weekend get-together party and holidays. It's not a coincidence that,
as smoker and grills sales increase, so does the growth
of pork ribs."
A trend that's big regardless of season, Worpel says,
is the explosion of ﬂavor options - particularly of the
Hispanic and Asian variety.
"We're offering more pre-seasoned and marinated
products that appeal to these additional ﬂavor proﬁles and provide convenience," she says. "Our intent
is to expose consumers to a larger ﬂavor palate with
the ease of the meat and ﬂavor being all-in-one, with
products like our seasoned and marinated items, such
as ribs."
Tyson also offers pork recipes on its various brand
websites and its social media platforms. Recipes, she
says, encourage consumers to try new ﬂavors and
new cuts of meat and provide education on how to
best cook pork products.
Also trending upward in the pork category are
boneless loin ﬁlets and tenderloins, Eaheart says.
The smaller sizes are easier to prepare and allow the
consumer to create their own spin with unique bold,
spicy ﬂavors. Also, the smaller packages are a better
ﬁt for today's similarly smaller households.
Seaboard is also seeing growth in sales of net-weight
tenderloin and ﬁlet products. For many retailers,
Eaheart says, ﬁxed-weight items are easier to promote, price and merchandise, and they look better
on the shelf because of the uniform sizes. Another
trend driving category sales, Eaheart says, is the use
of pork as an ingredient rather than a center-of-theplate item.

JULY 2019 - 45

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Supermarket Perimeter - July 2019

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