Heart-Check Mark Drives Incremental Beef Sales

DENVERThe Beef Checkoff Program reports the heart-check mark certified by the American Heart Association (AHA) Food Certification Program continues to drive incremental beef sales and build customer loyalty at the retail level.  

The organizations conducted a pilot test with two grocery chains in 2011 and since that time the Beef Checkoff has collaborated with retailers to spread the display of the AHA heart-check mark on packages of retail beef. The heart-check mark helps consumers identify foods that meet AHA criteria for saturated fat and cholesterol on cuts of extra lean beef. Overall, the heart-check mark has been shown to influence sales by as much as 5 percent.

Hundreds of stores across the U.S. currently display the mark on certified beef items in the meat case and have signed up through the Beef Checkoff to participate in the AHA Food Certification Program. Two such retailers included California-based Save Mart Supermarkets and Texas-based H-E-B.

Funding from the Beef Checkoff program allowed the retail chains to hold cooking and tasting demos of recipes utilizing certified cuts of beef included in the program. The certified Top Sirloin Stir Fry item featured in the demos in California, for example, experienced a 19 percent increase in sales during the promotion period. And overall sales for AHA-certified cuts continued to grow another 2 percent in the month post-promotion.

"The reinforcement to consumers that beef offers not only a delicious eating experience but one the American Heart Association has specifically identified as 'heart-healthy' is positive news for the checkoff," says Jeanne Harland, a beef producer from Illinois and chairman of the Beef Checkoff's Nutrition and Health Subcommittee.