San Jose, CA & Centennial, CO – The Beef Checkoff and the Mushroom Council team up for a third Veal Mushroom Summer Grilling Promotion. A new Veal Mushroom Blend Sliders recipe will be introduced through labels placed on specially marked packages of veal. The promotion will be supported with a consumer sweepstakes featuring a $500 grand prize in free groceries. Last year’s sweepstakes generated over 260,000 entries. This year is anticipated to generate even more consumer and retailer participation. The promotion runs from June 5 through September 5, 2017.
The Veal Mushroom Blend Sliders recipe, developed by the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), incorporates the Mushroom Council’s popular Blend technique by mixing finely diced mushrooms into the ground veal patties. The cooked veal patties are then topped with sautéed fresh mushrooms and placed between mini slider rolls. The Blended mushrooms and sautéed mushrooms add extra servings of vegetables, vitamins and nutrients.
“Our partnership with the Beef Checkoff on the veal summer grilling promotion is a great way to promote veal and The Blend,” explains Bart Minor, president of the Mushroom Council. “It’s an exciting opportunity for meat and produce departments to cross-promote in two perimeter departments. The promotion was so successful the past two years that the Beef Checkoff, Mushroom Council and retailers were eager for another promotion again this year.”
This year’s promotion will have an active consumer component through the Mushroom Council’s consumer blog posts, eblasts to the Mushroom Lover’s List, and postings to loyal Pinterest board followers, Instagram videos, Facebook, and online YouTube cooking demonstrations. To make the promotion even more exciting for consumers, a special Facebook promotion has been added. Consumers are encouraged to take a photo of their version of a veal blend burger, upload the image and briefly explain why they liked it for a chance to win a blender/food processor. Support from the digital and social media campaign will drive consumer awareness and contest entry at VealMadeEasy.com.
For more information on The Blend, retailers can visit www.MushroomsAtRetail.com; for more information and terms of participation for the promotion, retailers can visit www.VealMadeEasy.com .
About The Mushroom Council:
The Mushroom Council is composed of fresh market producers or importers who average more than 500,000 pounds of mushrooms produced or imported annually. The mushroom program is authorized by the Mushroom Promotion, Research and Consumer Information Act of 1990 and is administered by the Mushroom Council under the supervision of the Agricultural Marketing Service. Research and promotion programs help to expand, maintain and develop markets for individual agricultural commodities in the United States and abroad. These industry self-help programs are requested and funded by the industry groups that they serve.
About The Beef Checkoff:
The Beef Checkoff Program was established as part of the 1985 Farm Bill. The Checkoff assesses $1 per head on the sale of live domestic and imported cattle, in addition to a comparable assessment on imported beef and beef products. States retain up to 50 cents on the dollar and forward the other 50 cents per head to the Cattlemen's Beef Promotion and Research Board, which administers the national Checkoff program, subject to USDA approval.
Source: The Mushroom Council & The Beef Checkoff
