Millennials and Protein Craze Boost Meat Sales to Record High
by Jennifer Shike, Bovine Veterinarian
Despite the extreme inflationary pressure on income now, consumers continue to lean into their love for meat in 2024.
“2024 was the strongest year on record for meat, with growth for beef and chicken, pork, lamb had a really good year, bison, veal, you name it,” says Anne-Marie Roerink, owner of 210 Analytics, who conducted the 2024 Power of Meat study. “It was just an allaround fantastic year, and it really underscored that despite consumers having that pressure on income and being in the non-stop balancing act on what to spend their money on, meat won big.”
How Did Meat Win?
When times are tough, people start to cook at home more often, Roerink says. A part of the dollar that came out of food service restaurants went into the retail grocery store space. She says part of the dollar might end up back at restaurants. But, that’s not a bad thing for the meat industry. The balance between retail and restaurants tends to be a good thing. “For years, we worried about whether millennials were going to be meat and poultry consumers like the generations before them. The answer is a resounding yes,” Roerink says.
Millennials, especially the older half of this age group, are starting to come into their income potential. “Many millennials now have children,” she adds. “And those children are starting to be the age where you think you go to the grocery store for the entire week, and about two days later, your pantry, fridge, and freezer are empty.”
The retail meat industry sold 500 million more packages in 2024 than they did in 2023. Roerink says 62% of that 500-millionpackage growth was driven by millennials. “That’s been a key finding for all of us,” she says. “Millennials do approach meat and poultry a little bit differently, so that’s going to mean more change in years to come.”
Another reason why the meat industry is doing so well is Americans’ massive focus on protein. “If you walk around the store, from your mac and cheese to your Skippy peanut butter, protein call-outs are everywhere,” Roerink explains. “But at the same time, this is going hand in hand with some people saying, ‘I want fewer ingredients in the things that I buy. I want a more natural form of food.’ That combined focus on protein with more wholesome foods has really put meat and poultry back into the driver’s seat as well.”
What Do Millennials Really Want?
Roerink says millennials are focused on convenience more than ever. This is largely attributed to their life stage — running around and balancing time between family and work like generations before them. “They have more focus on sustainability and animal welfare,” she adds. “With their approach and values relative to meat and poultry, I think we’re going to see some different needs in terms of transparency. They truly do want to hear from the producers. They want to understand what kind of life the animal had, how you approach water management, and everything else.”
She says it may sound crazy, but consumers do want to know how their food is produced. And if they don’t hear it from the producer, they may dream up their own descriptions, she points out. “Oftentimes when we think about our meat category, we use industry terms. We approach it from a scientific angle,” Roerink says. “This means nothing to consumers. They want to know more, but we need to speak in a language that makes sense to those consumers.”
Enhancing Meat Quality through Management Decisions Pre-Calving
by Paul Beck, Oklahoma State University
Meat quality is influenced by various factors that affect the consumer’s eating experience, including tenderness, marbling, and fat composition. While many factors contribute to the final product, beef producers play a key role in shaping meat quality through their management and nutritional decisions, even before an animal is born.
Production systems vary widely based on climate and economics, but management choices made before birth can significantly impact meat quality. Key decisions include breed selection and maternal nutrition.
Breed type affects meat quality. Bos taurus breeds, such as Angus and Hereford, tend to have higher marbling scores than Bos indicus breeds. Crossbreeding beef and dairy genetics can optimize efficiency and carcass quality, with research ongoing to determine the best breed combinations for superior meat characteristics.
A dam’s uterine capacity and diet during pregnancy directly impact the offspring’s muscle development, fat composition, and overall meat quality. Intrauterine growth restriction can limit muscle fiber development and reduce marbling. Proper maternal nutrition helps mitigate these effects. Studies show that protein supplementation during gestation improves marbling and meat tenderness, while both undernutrition and overnutrition of the beef cow during gestation can negatively impact carcass traits of their calves.
Feeding antioxidant-rich diets to pregnant cattle can enhance the offspring’s meat quality by improving shelf life and flavor stability. Research suggests that plant-based antioxidants, such as rosemary and thyme, can reduce fat oxidation, preserving meat tenderness and taste.
Beef producers have a significant influence on meat quality through breeding choices and nutrition management. Understanding these factors and implementing best practices from conception through finishing can lead to higher-quality beef, improving both consumer satisfaction and market value.
Gene Editing: Livestock Genetic Improvement through DNA Editing
by Angie Stump Denton, Bovine Veterinarian
Traditional cattle breeding has always involved modifying the genetics of animals, but the term “genetic modification” is often associated with more modern biotechnologies like genetic engineering and gene editing.
“Often when people hear the expression ‘genetic modification’ what comes to mind is the whole GMO debate and scary memes on the internet, or that if you eat GMOs [GeneticallyModified Organisms] something bad will happen to you,” says Alison Van Eenennaam, UC–Davis animal biotechnology and genomics Extension specialist. “That narrative has been very hard to correct.”
Van Eenennaam was a featured speaker during Kansas State University’s recent Cattlemen’s Day. Genetic engineering, which has been around for about 30 years, involves introducing transgenic constructs from other organisms, such as Bt-corn. However, this technology has seen limited use in animal production due to consumer pushback against GMOs and the difficulty of introducing new traits into animals, Van Eenennaam says.
A newer technology called genome editing or gene editing has emerged in the last decade. “Gene editing is basically just conventional breeding, but done more intelligently,” she summarizes. “This allows for the targeted manipulation of an animal’s DNA without introducing foreign genetic material. For example, researchers have developed a ‘PRRS-resistant’ pig by knocking out a gene that the virus uses to infect the animal. Gene editing can also be used to introduce beneficial alleles from one breed into the elite germplasm of another, without diluting the desired genetics.”
In cattle, gene editing has been used to create knockouts for traits like disease resistance and heat tolerance, as well as knock-ins to introduce desirable alleles like the polled trait. “In 2009, we were able to define the entire sequence of the cattle genome, which gave us a look at the genetic variation that exists between cattle breeds,” Van Eenennaam says. “In the case of cattle, that’s about three billion base pairs of DNA that make up the cattle genome.”
In cattle, gene editing has been used to create knockouts for traits like disease resistance and heat tolerance, as well as knock-ins to introduce desirable alleles like the polled trait.
She explained there are two ways to gene edit cattle: cloning and microinjection into zygotes. “The key difference is that cloning starts with an edited cell line, while microinjection edits the zygote directly,” she says. “Ultimately, the goal is to produce a homozygous, non-mosaic animal where both alleles carry the desired edit, ensuring the trait is passed on to offspring.”
Van Eenennaam explains a few of the cattle-focused gene editing projects have centered around traits like polled, disease resistance, heat tolerance, and muscle development. In the swine industry, she says gene editing is being used to improve a pig’s resistance to Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRSV), a devastating disease that costs the swine industry about $1.2 billion per year in the US.
A gene editing project that could have a big impact on the beef industry is surrogate sires or “artificial insemination on legs.” The process produces bulls that are generating semen from a different cell line. For example, a tropically adapted bull working in an environment where he is well suited, but his semen could be, genetically, an Angus sire.
“You can basically do AI on legs, because you could naturally service with elite germplasm,” she says. “There’s a lot of different applications that have some potential to really benefit the beef industry.”
Gene editing technology still faces regulatory hurdles in the US, as well as the need to overcome perceptions among countries that buy US beef. Van Eenennaam says the main risks with gene editing are more reputational than safety-related, as activist groups may try to lump gene editing with GMOs. She encourages more discussion highlighting how gene editing can address issues like animal welfare and disease resistance in ways that align with consumer values.
Excited about the potential of gene editing to improve livestock production in a targeted and precise manner, she summarizes that regulatory approaches will be crucial in determining which applications reach the market and who can bring them forward. .
