The Florida Beef Council (FBC) recently attended the Food Nutrition Conference and Expo. Deanne Maples with the Florida Beef Council sat down to tell us more.
“The Florida Beef Council joined more than 8,000 attendees in San Antonio last week. That’s a premier conference for health care professionals, registered dieticians, nutritionists, researchers, educators, those folks who are helping to guide food choices every day. You know, one thing I’ve noticed over the years with my time at the Beef Council is how happy these professionals are to meet the folks who raise their food. And so many haven’t had an opportunity to visit a cattle ranch,” explained Maples.
“Maybe they don’t even live near anything like that. So, they’re curious and they ask very thoughtful questions. And those conversations really go a long way to help to build their trust in the beef industry and what we’re doing. I think that when you connect the people who raise our food with the people who recommend it, of course, everybody wins in that. And the Beef Checkoff is in such a good place to have these kinds of connections at these events. We share credible science-based nutrition research,” Maples added.
“We have recipes and meal inspiration. And I think, you know, with beef, consumers don’t have to choose between great taste and good nutrition because they can certainly have both. And then we also have the tools to give them the meal ideas and the things to make that happen,” said Maples.
“So I said the Florida Beef Council went, this was very much a team effort. We were working alongside the National Beef It’s What’s For Dinner nutrition team and several other state beef councils were in attendance. We even had some cattle producers there as well,” Maples said.
“And I know that these partnerships really go the distance to allow our producers check off dollars to accomplish a lot more collectively. And then for Florida, we come home with these new relationships that we’ve built out there and we can continue to grow their knowledge of the beef industry and be a resource for them. So we’re continuing to invest in the people who influence our consumers to buy our products,” Maples said.
Audio Reporting by Elizabeth Sanders for Southeast AgNet.