MEAT Standards Australia (MSA) is launching a new look symbol that will make it easier than ever for consumers to select quality beef.
The green and gold “MSA graded” symbol is set to be used increasingly to identify Aussie beef that has met independent consumer standards for tenderness, juiciness and flavour hence taking out the guesswork of selecting the best cuts.
The new symbol will be positioned as a quality mark – not a brand – indicating that commercial brands have been graded to meet MSA standards.
Cattle Council of Australia’s Sam Gunn said producers had funded the development of the MSA project for the past 10 years and they’d been asking why it hadn’t been taken to the consumers, which is what the re-fresh was all about.
“We are now taking the MSA symbol directly to consumers at point of sale so shoppers can be sure they are getting consistent quality beef every time.
“Instead of buying a cut of beef and being unsure about its quality consumers can look for the ‘MSA graded’ symbol at their local butcher or fresh food retailer and be confident they are getting great quality beef.”
He said the system would help shoppers select the right cut of beef for their desired cooking method.
Once consumers were seeking out MSA product then the demand for it would grow, giving producers more market, he said.
“We want people to have a good eating experience with meat,” Mr Gunn said.
“It’s taken quite a number of years to get to the consumer and implement it with the supply chain.”
The MSA grading system was developed by nearly 90,000 consumers who tasted more than 603,000 beef samples across eight different cooking methods to identify the key factors that deliver consistent quality beef.
To date the MSA system has been adopted by more than 600 butchers and several fresh food retailers across the country with numbers increasing steadily.
It provides wholesalers and retailers with an independent endorsement of quality for graded beef backed by the power of consumer testing.
“The MSA grading system takes into account all aspects that affect eating quality from the paddock to the plate and is widely recognised as the world’s leading eating quality program for red meat,” Mr Gunn said.
Also being launched is the new Beef Essentials app for iPhones which offers consumers a foolproof guide to cooking perfect steaks.
The app is available online at the iTunes store.
Mr Gunn said this would give consumers the confidence to cook their MSA graded meat in a way which would ensure they got the best experience from it.
“We want it to be a good eating experience,” Mr Gunn said.
It also meant consumers could then return to their butcher and order the same style of meat again and be assured of its quality.
