New Beef Products Research

INTRODUCTION Muscle profiling research conducted in the early part of this decade by the University of Nebraska and the University of Florida for The Beef Checkoff was highly successfully. This research led to the development of the flat iron steak, the petite tender, and the ranch cut from the shoulder clod and has been credited with increasing the value of market cattle by $50-$70 per head. In 2007, over 92 million pounds of flat iron steaks, 40 million pounds of petite tenders, and 37 million pounds of ranch steaks were sold into foodservice. Although difficult to track, additional sales were made at retail. A logical progression of the work was to look for additional opportunities to add value to beef through development of new beef cuts. Under the leadership of the Beef Innovations Group-the product development arm of the National Cattlemen's Beef Association-an initiative was begun to explore value-adding opportunities in the beef chuck roll. New cuts have now been developed and are described below.