The ABP team has been pursuing this new market for @IslandBeef for several months with assistance from partners, the P.E.I. Cattle Producers and the Food Island Partnership. Meetings with potential customers on numerous occasions were supported by Innovation P.E.I.’s Trade Team initiatives.
Certified Island Beef has a reputation for distinctive taste that many chefs attribute to the traditional care exercised in raising beef by the small family farms and the unique, pristine environment of P.E.I., noted a release from the ABP.
This characteristic taste and flavour influenced by the region is referred to as terroir, like the term used to describe wine growing regions.
“We believe the combination of our Island growing environment, the unique feed mixture which includes potatoes and grasses together with the fact that our producers ‘slow grow’ our beef without the use of artificial hormones, gives our beef a flavour advantage over beef from other regions around the world,” says Russ Mallard, president of Atlantic Beef Products.
“Our beef has been proven in some of the best restaurants and retailers in Canada to be a popular choice. We are excited to be able to introduce our beef to U.S. consumers.”
Colorado Boxed Beef Co. (CBBC) is a US based beef distributor with nine locations in the U.S.A.
Jeff Trafford of CBBC said, “Our customers are looking for high quality beef, raised in a sustainable manner and we think we have found a unique product with a great story in P.E.I.
“Three of us from CBBC came to P.E.I. in June to tour the plant and local farms and were very impressed with the beef, the care beef producers take in raising the beef and the ABP plant.”
“Innovation P.E.I.’s primary goals, as the lead business development agency for the province, are to increase revenues generated from export sales and to assist Prince Edward Island companies in becoming export ready,” says Minister of Economic Development and Tourism Heath MacDonald.
Atlantic Beef Products provides high quality beef products from cattle raised in pasture on small family farms and supplies leading grocery retailers, food service distributors and independent butchers.
