Bryan Salvage Editor
One point became clear after analyzing the many interviews Meat Marketing & Technology's editors had with packers, retailers, suppliers and consultants involved in fresh, case-ready meat programs. After years of anticipation, most sources are convinced the time is finally right for case-ready to take off in the United States.
Here is a sampling:
-- "Timing is everything in any new program, and I think the time is right for case-ready."-Steve Petersen, case-ready business manager, Excel Corp., which markets Double Diamond.
-- "I think the time has come for case-ready."-Stan Fittenger, president, Alpha Meat Packing Co., a case-ready meat pioneer in the United States.
-- "We find that the concept is very strong and growing in the United States."-Arthur Axberg Jr., president of Ilapak Inc.
-- "I've been in case-ready for eight years, and the last two years have been significantly more active."-Jim Mize, marketing director of fresh red meat for Cryovac.
-- "Numerous plant expansions are taking place to address the additional volume requirements of [case-ready]."-Robert Goss, national sales manager for CVP Systems Inc.
-- "Quality assurance and quality control people are playing a major role in running case-ready meat programs."-Steve Martin of Robert Reiser & Co.'s packaging group.
-- "The momentum continues to plod forward relentlessly-but slowly."-Jim Shelley, technical consultant for DuPont Packaging.
Most sources agree that supermarkets are driving the momentum of case-ready meat because they want better control of operating costs (by reducing or eliminating retail meat cutting operations at the store level); they want to prevent out-of-stocks; they are faced with a growing shortage of trained meatcutters; supermarket meat managers realize that as the value of retail meat continues to rise, there is a greater need to protect it from shrinkage; and perhaps most important, there is a strong desire to achieve maximum meat quality, consistency and safety, particularly with fresh beef products.
"Although I agree with everybody that case-ready meat will come back to retail stores, it won't happen overnight," predicts Harry Rubbright, president of Eagan, Minn.-based The Rubbright Group Inc. "It's going to take five years or more."
Sobering observations
Aaron Brody, managing director of Rubbright--Brody Inc., has been involved in case-ready meat projects and programs since 1967. Brody has some sobering observations for the meat industry to ponder regarding case-ready.
"I am not as optimistic as others," admits Brody, who has seen case-ready programs in the past fall by the wayside. "It is a very complex issue. We don't have the plants that are built for sanitation [that case-ready meat programs require]; the mentality of putting a HACCP [Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point] program into these plants; or the packaging positions in place.
"People don't seem to realize it's going to cost 15 cents a package just for package materials," he adds. "These packaging machines don't run at high speeds. Most important of all, we don't have the distribution systems to handle case-ready meat.
"We don't have the temperature control [throughout production and distribution]," he stresses. "[Packers] are running temperatures at 38 degrees F, 40 degrees F and 45 degrees F. Companies that are successful in this [case-ready] business-the Frank Perdues and Orval Kents-are delivering safe, quality products at 29 degrees F or 30 degrees F [consistently throughout production and distribution]."
Brody cautions packers that a case-ready meat program is a long-term investment.
"You have to be in centralized meat packaging for five years before you even know if it's going to work," he cautions. "I don't doubt that some [packer] with enough chutzpah and commitment to case-ready could actually do something very powerful, but who will it be?"
That's a good question. Only time will tell.