Extending Beef “Tastes great, more filling!”

By Denny Banister

by Denny Banister

It was a good idea, but a colossal failure. The idea was to make ground beef cost less and go further by adding soy. Our local supermarket promoted it as ‘extended’ ground beef’ – it did not sound very appetizing.

The product should have been marketed similar to the Miller Lite advertising campaign – you know, “Ground Beef Lite,” for hamburgers that “Taste great with more filling!” Or better yet, how about “Tastes great,” but “Less fattening?” BINGO! Wouldn’t you try a product with all the taste of ground beef, but with less fat and calories?

But you would not stay with the product unless it offered consistent quality, which was the other problem with extended ground beef – many stores did their own mixing, following the old theory – ‘if a little bit is good, a lot will be better.’ Wrong!

While extended ground beef flopped at the supermarket, the product caught on with institutional food services – you know, military chow halls, hospitals, nursing homes, community food banks and schools.

When I was a kid, the most popular school lunches were on those couple of days a month the cafeteria served hamburgers. They were far better than the hamburgers our fathers sacrificed to the barbeque gods every weekend, and definitely the best offering on the school’s menu.

Also, we were allowed to put catsup, the favorite condiment of kids, on our hamburgers. For some reason we were not allowed to use catsup on anything else, which could have helped the twice-weekly sticky macaroni-and-cheese and the once-monthly sliver-of-liver go down.

Now, at a time when some doctors and nutritionists are warning too little fat in the diet is actually unhealthy and recommending 30 percent of our calories come from fat, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) says schools and day care centers can serve tofu, veggie burgers and other soy products as meat substitutes.

The USDA is not talking ‘extending’ here – schools currently can, and do, use up to 30 percent soy filler. This USDA policy switch allows replacing ground beef with soy. “Its time has come,” said USDA spokesperson Shirley Watkins, speaking of substituting soy products for meat. “I think people are more receptive than they would have been five or 10 years ago.”

There is absolutely nothing wrong with soy – it is a wonderful, healthful source of protein, and the USDA decision will help soybean farmers with increased sales. At the same time, the decision will hurt livestock producers with decreased sales. But so much for producers, what about the kids?

Well, now that tofu and veggie burgers are considered meat replacements, the USDA’s decision some years back considering catsup a vegetable replacement suddenly makes sense. As we see an increase of meat replacements on the school menu, I have a hunch kids will sharply increase their consumption of the vegetable replacement as well.

Editor’s note: Denny Banister of Jefferson City is assistant director of information and public relations for the Missouri Farm Bureau, the state’s largest farm organization.