Protein Labeling Study II

Monitoring the consumer's view of meat & poultry labeling

Funded in part by The Beef Checkoff

NationalPork Board

November 2009

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Why we revisited the research

• Consumers change

• The meat case is confusing

• More food dollars staying in-store

Ethnics

Baby Boomers

Millennials

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Research objectives

• Study objectives:– Identify information needs for purchasing meat & poultry

– Explore use of recipes

– Test a variety of labels for:

• appeal • functionality

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Study sponsored by NPB, NCBA and Yerecic Label

• Follow-up to 2004-05 research, which led to development of EFC label

• EFC label program created to assist consumers in selecting and preparing meat & poultry and to stimulate protein sales

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Criteria for focus group participation

• Primary food shopper and preparer

• Less than confident in cooking skills

• Eat protein regularly

• “Somewhat interested” in trying new recipes

• Have internet access

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Nine mini focus groups held November 5-13, 2009

•  Focus groups were conducted in– Bethesda, MD Chicago, IL Los Angeles, CA

• One group of each target was studied in all markets– Millennials aged 21-30 — Moderate cooking skills or

cooking challenged

– Consumers aged 31-54 — Moderate cooking skills

– Consumers aged 31-54 — Cooking challenged

• 73% of consumers describe themselves as having moderate cooking skills or cooking challenged.*

* Beef checkoff-funded Consumer Beef Index Study, February 2010.

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Key findings

• Consumers still need help with meat and poultry purchase decisions

• Labels educate and build confidence

• Cooking instructions, recipes and photos are a must

• A wide variety of on-pack information is valued but it must be easy to apprehend

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Consumer attitudes and preferences

• In general…– Consumers are bored and stuck in a rut

RESEARCH RESULTS

“I’m so tired of buying chicken and making just chicken. Or, I’ll buy a pork tenderloin because it’s marinated and I just have to put it in the oven. But you know, sometimes I like to maybe do something else but it’s hard to come up with a different, changing it like taking the same thing and making it different.” (Bethesda, Cooking Challenged)

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Consumer attitudes and preferences

• In general…– Many cuts are still unfamiliar

– Families prepare multiple dishes for each meal

“Some of the stuff I wouldn’t even know what to do with. Like a pork roast, I’ve never made one. So if I saw the recipe, I’d see they’re pretty easy. My mom makes them when we go over there if that’s what we want. But I’ve never made one. So if I had a recipe and it was pretty simple or easy, I would make it.” (Chicago, Moderate Cooking Skills)

RESEARCH RESULTS

“Do you ever buy pork, like pork chops or a pork roast?”“If I do it’s usually like prepared, or when I am out at restaurants, I get things like that. Those kinds of things I don’t cook.”“Why would you get it at a restaurant but not cook it at home?”“Probably because I don’t know how to prepare it”. (LA, Millennial)

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Consumers are uncertain about how to cook many cuts

• Should it be grilled, broiled, oven roasted or marinated?– Phrases like “great for

grilling and broiling” and “oven roast” are helpful

RESEARCH RESULTS

“I like that because if there were two packs of pork chops and this one has great for grilling and the other one doesn’t, I would see this one and think I can put that on the BBQ and I wouldn’t even pay attention to the other one, even if I didn’t use this recipe. Just because I know it says I can grill this cut of meat, I am going to look at this one.” (LA, Millennial)

Consumers are uncertain about how to cook many cuts

• Most grew up eating dry/overcooked pork because of food safety concerns

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RESEARCH RESULTS

“Well, when I was growing up we were taught you should never eat pork when it’s pink on the inside and you always overcooked pork. It was always tough to eat pork. Now that you know it can be slightly pink, you know that it’s safe to eat it, and you’re not going to get tapeworms or something like that. You hear those scary stories.” (LA, Moderate Cooking Skills)

“I guess it happens to me a lot with pork. I usually don’t buy it as much because I don’t know how to cook it. So if there were some sort of cooking time or a little recipe on the top, that would be helpful.” (LA, Millennial)

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Consumer Attitudes & PreferencesGeneral

Source: Shugoll Research, Protein Labeling Study II – 2009.

RESEARCH RESULTS

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Consumers are always looking for new recipes

• Internet

• Favorite cookbooks

• Magazines, daily newspapers

• Word of mouth

• Cooking shows

• Recipe cards in the meat case

RESEARCH RESULTS

“I’ve seen in the meat department, where they’ll have those little recipe cards, and I’ll pick those up every once in a while. It would be helpful to have something on the actual package.” (Bethesda, Millennial)

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Consumers prefer to find recipes on the package label — convenience

• Helps make dinner decisions while shopping

• Brochures get lost

• Signage is no help at home

• Recipe matches cut of meat – no guessing, quick and convenient

• Stays with cut of meat until use

RESEARCH RESULTS

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Consumer Attitudes and PreferencesRecipes

• Ideal recipes:– Take under 30 minutes to prepare

– Require five or fewer ingredients

– Use commonly known and available ingredients

– Use lists, numbers or bullets

– Use familiar terms and tools

– Include a picture of the finished meal

RESEARCH RESULTS

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# 13“Those of you that picked 13, help me understand why 13 was the one that you feel would be best for you in the meat department?”“It’s visual, and it’s what I like. I want to see what it’s going to look like, my finished product, and then that kind of hits my mind and I can just start … visually looking at that, starts making me hungry.”“You start smelling it.” “Yeah, smelling it. I’m going to pick that package up. Yeah, it’s the visuals.”“Okay. Others?”“Serving suggestions. I like that idea. This is pretty basic, but serving suggestions, or this goes good with that. Something that’s enticing, it’s not just the sticker on there.” (LA, Cooking Challenged)

Basic labels can influence purchase decisions

Consumers:• Are influenced by

labels

• Like photos of finished product — even without recipes

• Like nutrition information

• Appreciate helpful yet simple details

RESEARCH RESULTS

“The 90/10 there, I believe means 90% lean and then 10% fat content. And that is generally what I’m looking for when I’m looking for meat.” (Bethesda, Millennial)

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Easy Fresh Cooking® labels are preferred over “basic” labels

• Provide useful info and ideas

• Visually appealing

• Contain helpful content

RESEARCH RESULTS

“I like the little peel things. It’s very convenient and helpful. It tells you how to cook it, gives you examples, maybe what to go with it…” (Los Angeles, Millennial)

“I like the fact that it’s a triangle shape.”“You do, tell me why.”“Because I would think that it would be placed on the package so that we could see more of what’s really in the package. Wouldn’t take up as much space.” (LA, Millennial)

“It makes it look juicy and appealing, it gives me an appetite to eat it, from the picture on the front. I like the instructions to peel off and then I can separate the actual recipe. It gives me exactly what I need to cook with it so when I’m in the store, I’ll look for these items if I don’t have them at home already.Gives me the directions right below the instructions. And then it tells me how to broil it. And then it’s got additional information, I guess cooking times, which is something I always get concerned about. How much is too much, how much is just enough, how much is required to kill any pathogens.”(Chicago, Cooking Challenged)

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Consumers prefer the shape, size and attributes of the EFC label

• Corner position = easy to see more of the meat

• Content must fit the corner

• The adhesive hinge is preferred

RESEARCH RESULTS

“I like it, but I think that the fact that I obviously pulled it and it ripped right off, would probably be a bad idea, because if you’re a consumer, your like, oh I want to look at this. You pull it and it rips right off, then you’re left with just that part, on the chicken, or on whatever it is.” (Bethesda, Cooking Challenged)

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What makes a good label?

• Photo of finished product

• Cooking instructions and charts

• Recipes – and website to find more

• Helpful hints

• Triangle shape (doesn’t cover too much product)

• Readable type size font

• Peel indication/invitation

• Hinge/perforation

RESEARCH RESULTS

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• Covering up the protein with large labels

• Not being told there is more info inside

• Photos that don’t match the recipe

• Too many details that become cluttered

• Not being able to read small labels

• Paragraph format for ingredients, cooking directions and recipes

• Label that comes off the package in the store

• Needing to touch something that touches meat

What doesn’t work?RESEARCH RESULTS

“Then you have to fumble with the…”“I try not to touch anything that has touched the raw meat at all for any period of time. So I don’t even think…if this was actually on top of the raw meat I probably would hardly even look at it, if at all.” “Any other comments.”“And if it’s on the actual meat part, that’s kind of gross to me.”“Yeah, it’s kind of unsanitary, even on a counter while you’re cooking. And then you keep touching it and you go back to what you were making, because you’d get… ““So if this were on top of the packaging and said please pull for more information, then you pull it off and it hasn’t touched any food. It’s on the outside.” (Bethesda – Millennials)

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Additional Tips

• Give consumers more

nutrition information

• Avoid clutter

by simplifying content

• Offer a choice of recipes

in the meatcase

• Rotate information

inside of the label

RESEARCH RESULTS

Closing Thoughts

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Protein Labeling Study II

Coming Attractions:

• More Consumer Insights Fall 2010• Easy Fresh Cooking® Variations• Cross Merchandising Ideas• New Technologies Uses

• In-store Controlled Tests Spring 2011

Funded in part by The

Beef Checkoff

NationalPork Board

November 2009