Industry News - AM
Montana processor seeks to revive state's beef industry
By Tom Johnston on 1/27/2010

Ron Oberlander, chief executive officer of Montana Food Products, told Meatingplace there's much more to his company's reopening next month of a 6,000-square-foot beef processing plant near Laurel, Mont., than a ribbon cutting.

"We're not just resurrecting a processing facility," he said. "We're trying to resurrect the beef business in Montana."

Finding a steady source of supply in Montana and other northern states has been a challenge, but Oberlander believes that his products can re-establish demand.

Those products, marketed under the Montana Cattle Co. brand name, would include sausage, jerky, deli meats and cooked ground beef. The key ingredient would be omega-3 fatty acids, a claim that has been approved by USDA.

"We're the first to offer cooked meat with the omega-3 claim, especially as it relates to beef," he said. "We use only whole-food ingredients to achieve the omega-3 claim."

Montana Food Products, based in Florence, Mont., has bought two meat processing plants in the Laurel area. The first is expected to open next month and produce about 40,000 to 60,000 pounds of product per month. The second, to open in 12 to 24 months, would nearly quadruple monthly production of cooked product. The plan is to add slaughter operations that could handle upwards of 250 head daily.

"The problem with this business is you have to have a solid market for your product, which is why we're doing value-added, cooked product first," he said. "We want to establish a position in the market for our product line so we can support a slaughter plant. The other thing is, we're going to add pet food operations to slaughter. In order to compete with the big boys, I have to turn every inch of that animal into a finished product."

Montaqna Food Products already has begun supplying ground beef to local school lunch programs. Oberlander aims to process ground beef for schools throughout the nation. Meanwhile, his company is working to market all of its products nationally and internationally.

Referenced From:
meatingplace.com. (2010). Montana processor seeks to revive state’s beef industry. Retrieved February 2, 2010 from http://www.meatingplace.com/MembersOnly/webNews/details.aspx?item=15286&pf=t