Shropshire Star

Making red meat a healthy choice

Many of us will have been focusing on our health over the last couple of months as we recover from the indulgences of the festive period and desperately try to stick to New Year’s resolutions or, more recently, commit to give things up for Lent.

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We know from our own market research that health is becoming a more prominent factor when consumers are deciding what food to buy, but the role of beef and lamb in a healthy balanced diet is often undermined by negative misconceptions.

For that reason we at AHDB have been increasing our meat and health activity, with the aim of providing balanced, evidence-based information to consumers and opinion formers. Much of this work involves the Meat Advisory Panel, a group of healthcare professionals, scientists and researchers who provide independent information about red meat and its role in the diet. This group responds to numerous media requests on our behalf.

Recently we also published a series of health claims guides for beef, lamb and pork, which are designed to help retailers, processors and producers promote the nutritional benefits of red meat. The guides contain over 70 key messages on nutrition which have been approved by trading standards officials and will be used by retailers for labelling, as well as appearing on promotional materials, recipes, websites and advertising.

This nutritional information is also feeding in to our consumer marketing activity, with health and nutrition messages playing a key role in our latest marketing campaign, which will be launching in May. The campaign will promote thin cut beef steaks as an easy midweek meal option for people with busy lifestyles.

These affordable steaks can be cooked quickly, forming part of a wide range of dishes for lunch or dinner, such as stir-fries, beef salads, fajitas or steak sandwiches.

Currently, there are a number of different names for quick cook steaks, including minute, sizzle and frying steaks, which can cause confusion for shoppers. Using consumer research, the name, ‘thin cut steak’ has been tested and proven to be the most effective.

To raise awareness with shoppers, thin cut steaks will now be promoted with consumer marketing campaigns in 2018, including Great British Beef Week organised by Ladies in Beef, which starts on April 23 and runs to April 30.

Keep an eye out for our new campaign in coming months. In the meantime, if you fancy expanding your repertoire of beef and lamb recipes without ruining your diet, why not check out our healthier recipes online at www.simplybeefandlamb.co.uk/healthy-beef-lamb

Clive Brown is AHDB Beef and Lamb Head of Regional Development’