New U.S. Department of Agriculture-mandated nutrition labels on meat products may benefit retailers’ fresh seafood sales.
The USDA issued a final rule on 29 December, stating that 40 of the most popular cuts of packaged meat and poultry products are required to include nutritional facts panels by January 2012. The nutrition facts panel will include number of calories, grams of total fat and saturated fat and a new “fat percentage.”
So any product that lists a lean percentage statement, such as “76 percent lean” will now also be required to list the percentage of fat in the product. This will make it “easier for consumers to understand the amounts of lean protein and fat in their purchase,” said a USDA statement.
The new nutritional labels will increase sales of meats that are leaner, including chicken and turkey, along with seafood, Tom DeMott, COO of strategic advisory firm Encore Associates in San Ramon, Calif., told SeafoodSource on Friday.
“There will be shock from consumers when they start looking at some meat labels. Those higher fat and cholesterol readings on packages will scare some consumers away from buying meat. I suspect it will scare away more than 1 out of every 100 consumers,” said DeMott.
At the same time, DeMott is concerned about the additional cost that grocers’ meat and seafood departments will incur with the new labeling requirements.
“This will impact smaller retailers, who may not have upgraded their labeling equipment. It is going to be a heavy financial burden for them to comply,” he said.
Some of the fresh meat packages that will be required to bear the nutrition facts label include whole or boneless chicken breasts, beef brisket, beef tenderloin steak, ground beef and ground turkey.
