Every year Certified Angus Beef hosts a young beef leader conference at their headquarters in Wooster, Ohio. I was lucky enough to be able to attend this conference, and this brand truly amazed me with how it has impacted the entire beef industry in its short 40 years of existence. I felt it was rather important to share the story of the most well known branded beef program across the globe. Harold Etling sat down at a high class restaurant promoting Angus beef in 1975, excited to try a steak marketed for the breed he produced. To his dismay, his steak arrived and he was unable to chew it, forcing him to send it back. As Contentinal breeds flooded the cattle industry during the 1970s, the Angus breed was struggling to compete with the shear quantity of pounds these breeds produced. However, Etling knew that Angus possessed something far more valuable, quality. He knew something had to change as the breed he produced was losing consumer confidence and a position in the marketplace quickly. In April 1975, the first unofficial meeting took place discussing how to get consumers a better product, high quality Angus beef. After investigation, Etling and one of his partners, Fred Johnson discovered that almost 85% of restaurants advertising Angus beef weren't even serving black hided animals whatsoever. Thus, the idea of a certification program was born to protect the Angus name and regain the trust of consumers by providing premium beef. Certified Angus Beef brand began in 1978 with the help of the American Angus Association as its counterpart. The work only just began with the creation of the brand, meat scientists then worked with the USDA to create 10 specifications for CAB that would ensure the beef chosen for the program was similar and premium quality, providing a great experience every time. Val Decker Packing Company in Piqua, Ohio became the first licensed packer, with Renzetti's IGA as the first retailer. On October 18, 1978, Ella Whitt bought the first pound of Certified Angus Beef. This ground breaking event was highly publicized by new stations and print media, and even had Governor James A. Rhodes in attendance. In the pursuit of the "world's 1st premium brand of beef", 10 science based standards were chosen for carcasses to qualify. Only about 1 in 50 head qualifies for the program, unlike 1 in 13 who qualify for USDA Choice. Here is a list of the carcass specifications that must be met and then certified from the USDA. The only way for cattle to be eligible for this program is to be predominately black hided, but they are allowed to have white above the shoulders or below the flank.
Certified Angus Beef was created as a non-profit organization whose mission is to promote high quality Angus beef. With this structure in mind, all profits are put back into the marketing, education, and advancement of the Angus breed. The brand is now found in 50 countries with 16,000 licensed retailers or food service partners. On top of this global scale of marketing, packers can expect around an $84 premium per CAB carcass. Thus, packers strive to obtain high quality Angus beef. In turn, this means the demand for premium black hided animals has drastically increased. "Certified Angus Beef has truly created demand for Angus cattle." - Bryce Schumann, CEO of the American Angus Association If you have ever driven in rural parts of the U.S, you see pastures and feedyards of predominately black hided cattle, whereas pre 1970s they were mostly of Hereford influence. Black Angus truly is the business breed because of their innovative marketing program that not only instilled trust again with beef consumers, but increased their demand to catapault a once decreasing breed to the number one breed in the nation for decades. It is not my intention to tell you that Angus is simply the best breed, because there are many high performing cattle breeds in our country and they all deserve their own recognition. It is however my intent to share with you that Angus pioneered the way we market and consume beef, and is the envy of beef certification programs. I believe that Etling's dreams have come true not only in his efforts to save his beloved breed of cattle, but to provide consumers with premium beef that they come back for time and time again.
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AuthorThis is a blog to share many stories, laughs, adventures and lessons learned by yours truly, Haley Potter. Archives
July 2023
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