A fundamental change has taken place in the beef industry -- the rapid development of consumer friendly, precooked beef products. According to New Products Magazine, "457 new meat products were introduced into the market, helping boost demand and keep cattle prices high." These introductions were certainly needed and are winning market share back from chicken after losing it for two decades.

A few years ago I went to the corporate headquarters of a major beef packer. In a meeting a potential foodservice customer asked this packer for a list of their value-added products. In response, the packer representative jokingly stated, "We have two value-added beef products, quarter-pound and tenth-pound ground beef patties."

Needless to say, that beef packer - which is now extinct - can fairly be accused of selling what they produced, rather than what consumers wanted. Today, nationally recognized food companies such as Hormel, General Mills, Pillsbury, Oscar Mayer, Farmland, Nestles, Betty Crocker and Sysco, along with the normal "top-of-mind" beef companies are developing and producing successful, convenient beef products.

Currently, beef has drawn their battle lines in the foodservice arena. However, new in-store deli and supermarket freezer case products are making their way into various supermarket chains, including:

• Packaged, precooked ground beef crumbles. In the same way that fresh-cut salads revolutionized the lettuce industry, precooked ground beef could dramatically change meal preparation and create a new market for the ground beef industry. Forty-eight percent of all fresh beef sold at retail is ground beef. If we convert one percent of ground beef sales to crumbles and charge $3.65 a pound, that means another $121,107,000 for the beef industry.
• Appetizers. One of the newest, off the wall products being introduced in the foodservice market - Cheeseburger fries - is a breaded finger food made from beef and cheddar cheese. It will compete for food dollars normally designated for items such as chicken nuggets.
• Bone-in pot roast, fully cooked before it ever reaches your in-store deli. Ten years ago the boneless pot roast was introduced. Now the bone is being added back in for nostalgic reasons.

The next phase of research and development is staring the beef industry in the face. Teens and "on-the-go adults" are redefining the word convenience to mean effortless. These active consumers don't even want to sit down and eat anymore.

An example of a new non-sitting food is yogurt in a tube. No spoon, no bowl, no problems. So many companies are forming research teams to develop one-handed food items that can be consumed by a person driving 75 mph down Interstate 35 while talking on their mobile phone, drinking coffee and steering with their knee. Pretty scary. These items are being marketed as "left-handed foods," "porta-foods," "coffee bar foods" and "fist foods." You probably think I'm joking. I'm not. I wish American consumers would take a page from our international friends and take time to smell the roses and converse during mealtime. However, that doesn't seem to be something in the near future.

Example one, recently I was told about a one-handed food that is currently on the drawing board that involved hamburgers shaped like hotdogs in reheatable push-up tubes. Say it isn't so.

Example two, not only are the food items being changed but food containers are now competing for a portion of the dashboard. Sonic Drive-In recently taught the industry a lesson in effort-free road dining when they placed their French fries in round containers designed to fit into car cup-holders. That explains why my new Ford Truck has twelve cup-holders in it. We all must accept that Americans are not going to take time to enjoy life. So with that in mind, processors are looking for opportunities in foodservice and retail fist-foods. I just hope that we never try making a pot roast and vegetables on a stick. ©