What's New in Review
New meat products have made their way onto store shelves and restaurant menus in recent months. Meat Marketing & Technology, with the aid of Marketing Intelligence Service of Naples, N.Y., reviews what's new in the market.
-- Owens Country Sausage, Richardson, Texas, offers its Owens Homestyle Recipe Frozen Breakfast in Country Skillet, Farmer's Market Skillet and Border Skillet varieties.
The fully cooked, microwaveable meals are presented in 8.5-ounce to 9-ounce boxes. Suggested retail price is $2.49. The packages illustrate the specific ingredients and a dish of the breakfast variety, as well as a description of contents.
-- ConAgra Frozen Foods, Omaha, Neb., introduces Traditional Swedish Meatballs as one of its Healthy Choice Frozen Entrees.
It features "delicately seasoned meatballs smothered in a sauce rich with flavors of sour cream, paprika and nutmeg, served over egg noodles," the company claims. The meatballs are served with a side dish of green beans and carrots. It contains 9 grams of fat, 65 milligrams of cholesterol and 320 calories.
-- Hygrade Food Products Corp., Detroit, introduces Ball Park Lunch Bunch and Square Meals. The Lunch Bunch varieties include Fun Franks Version A: two microwaveable franks, one fun-size Snickers Bar, one 8.45-ounce Hi-C Fruit Punch and one packet of Heinz Ketchup; and Fun Franks Version B: the same as Version A, but with one fun-size Milky Way Bar and one 8.45-ounce Hi-C Orange Punch.
The Square Meals include the Meat Version: one Ball Park Frank (meat single) on a bun individually wrapped for the microwave, one brownie, one 8.45-ounce Minute Maid Fruit Punch and one packet of French's Mustard; and the beef version, same as meat version, but with Ball Park Beef Frank (beef single) on a bun individually wrapped for the microwave. Suggested retail price is $1.99 each.
-- Mitchell Foods, Barbourville, Ky., has added beef with barbecue sauce and pork with barbecue sauce to the Mitchell's Original Recipe line of refrigerated products. Products are packaged in 1-pound and 5-pound resealable plastic tubs, and are ready to heat and eat.
-- Tony's Pizza Service, Marshall, Minn., has added Philly Steak & Cheese and Bacon Cheeseburger to its line of Red Baron Premium Pockets. The entrees are sold in 9-ounce boxes containing two pocket sandwiches and are microwaveable. Retail price is $2.79.
-- Grandad's, Ellenwood, Ga., introduces its Real Bacon Rinds. The snack is crunchy, microwaveable and healthy, the company claims. The product contains only 1.5 grams of fat and 60 calories a serving. The 2-ounce bag cooks in about three to five minutes and retails for $1.49 a bag.
-- American Provisions Co., Rock Island, Ill., has available Corn Beef'er, a controllable way of serving a deli-flavor corn beef sandwich or reuben. There is no preparation work involved with the product and it has excellent portion control, the company claims.
Corn Beef'er can be baked, broiled, grilled or cooked on a char broiler. It is produced from Choice midwestern corn fed beef.
-- Sonny Bryan's Smokehouse, Dallas, introduces Smoked Hams available by mail to any state in the continental U.S. The hams are smoked slowly for 10 to 12 hours in wood-only pits, utilizing hickory. The hams range in weight from 6 pounds to 12 pounds and are $4.25 a pound.
-- Superior Farms, Davis, Calif., is testing its roasted, seasoned, boneless leg of lamb in several retail chains on the West Coast. The roasts, trimmed to less than 5 percent fat, are lightly seasoned and roasted until medium-rare to retain juiciness and flavor, the company claims. After vacuum packaging, they are packed two to a box and marketed either fresh or frozen.
The roasts are available in a 2.5-pound to 3-pound half roast, a 4-pound to 5-pound size or a 5-pound to 7-pound size for foodservice.
If your company has launched a new meat product, please mail or fax a news release to Larry Aylward, Meat Marketing & Technology, The Arcade, 401 Euclid Ave., Suite 461, Cleveland, Ohio 44114, phone 216/579-0815 or fax 216/579-0911.