by Brian Salvage, editor
Certain meat and packaging industry gurus have been predicting for years that the ship is about to come in regarding industry-wide involvement in producing case-ready meat.
But that critical mass of case-ready involvement these experts were predicting in the past decade has not materialized. Up until recent years, it seems as though only one pioneer-Excel Corp. (Cargill Meat Sector)-was attempting to navigate the untested case-ready meat waters. But just five years after its brand of case-ready beef was introduced in 1986, it was withdrawn from the market.
But this move was not a defeat on Excel's part; it was only a temporary retreat to reflect and regroup.
"The first time was actually a good learning experience," a Cargill spokesman says. "Honestly, it gave us a good start"
Most recently, Cargill introduced a new line of case-ready beef in limited distribution under the Double Diamond brand. (See the packaging report on page 22 for more details on this line.)
Cargill, however, is no longer alone in the case-ready market. For example, Hormel Foods Corp. is reportedly enjoying success with its line of case-ready pork. And insiders point to other major companies like IBP Inc. and Monfort Inc. as pursuing the case-ready market.
"And there are other companies that are doing internal testing to develop case-ready programs," says Jim Mize, market development manager for case-ready fresh red meats for Duncan, S.C.-based Cryovac."We are now working with a broad range of fresh meat companies to develop case-ready products."
"Im not going to suggest that the entire meat industry will become involved in case ready this year, but at the same time there's a steadily growing interest" he adds. "I 've been involved in case ready for eight years. The last two years have been significantly more active."
Retailer driven
Why didn't the Excel brand of case-ready meat succeed when first introduced in 1986? Three reasons stand out:
-- Some claimed the productÃs purplish color was unattractive.
-- Higher product costs were passed on to the consumer.
-- The case-ready concept also cast fears over supermarket meat cutters, who were concerned the concept would lead to their unemployment.
But times have changed-particularly regarding this last point, insiders say.
"[The renewed drive into case ready] is retailer driven" Mize says."For a variety of reasons, retailers are looking hard at case-ready meat."
Retailers are taking a closer look because meat cutters are not as readily available as they were in the past, and supermarkets want to protect themselves against out-of-stock situations-particularly in tough economic and competitive times.
It's hard to predict how successful case-ready meat will become-or how long it will take to achieve consistent demand. For now, case ready's success will have to be achieved and gauged on a company-by-company basis.
The concept of case-ready meat is promising, but its future depends on retailer demand and the successes these pioneer packers achieve in meeting this demand.
"This is new ground we're plowing," Mize says. "[The meat industry] has learned at the expense of meat companies that have gotten into the case-ready concept first. And when you look at some of the companies that are now starting to do reasonably well in case ready, this is not their first shot. And only a few of them will call their first shots failures."