Cargill’s tenderness laboratory in Wichita has achieved US Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) certification for its programme, while four of the company’s beef processing plants have been certified by the USDA for the production and packaging of tender products.
The company said that 10 cuts were eligible to be labelled as ‘USDA tender’ or ‘USDA very tender’, and it would now work to identify the brands and products that would meet the USDA criteria. It added that it hoped to roll out its first certified products early next year.
Cargill first started testing beef tenderness in 2000 and opened its Witchita innovation centre in July 2011 to develop “science-based” and “consumer-accepted” technologies to improve its products.
President of Wichita-based Cargill Beef John Keating said that he was “confident” in Cargill’s ability to deliver products that would meet the demands of its customers in terms of tenderness and flavour.
“We believe Cargill is the beef processing leader in the area of tenderness research and testing,” he said.
“We invest a substantial amount of resources in this area and have the best team in the industry, led by Dr Glen Dolezal, who is well-respected throughout the beef world. We are committed to meet, or exceed, the expectations of our retail and foodservice customers by providing them with the best beef possible for consumers to enjoy.”