‘Single origin’ cuts take a small slice of meat market

It could be capsulized as “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Steak.” At the meat counter and online, retailers “are taking the local food craze to new heights,” says the Wall Street Journal, by selling cuts of meat that can be traced to an individual animal on a specific farm. It’s called “single-origin” meat.

Customers pay a sizable premium for the meat, says the Journal. “Analysts says the single-origin meat sellers are tapping into demand for meat that consumers see as more ethically raised or butchered.” Single-origin meat is a niche market and the Journal notes it is costly and complex to set up a supply chain that tracks each piece of meat back to a single animal. While the U.S. meat industry runs mammoth packing plants, single-origin businesses operate on a much smaller scale, sometimes slaughtering one animal at a time.

Whole Foods said it had to invest in farms and slaughter plants so it could meet consumer demand for single-origin meat. In some parts of the country, Amazon sells “Single Cow” ground beef from Wagyu cattle raised in California. An Amazon official told the Journal, “A burger made from a single cow isn’t as common as you might think.”

Exit mobile version