Case-ready cadence: the rhythm of the marketing concept taking packaged meat and poultry...

Proper packaging is to case-ready products what the right casing is to hot dogs. That being the case, it's no wonder that this novel distribution concept endured stringent experimentation and testing over the years, before the meat industry and its retail

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With the goal of maximum shelf life, a meat tray over wrapped with film retains an internal environment made up of 80 percent oxygen and 20 percent carbon dioxide. The main alternative is a low-oxygen environment with various combinations of gases, proven to extend shelf life considerably. The rub, however, is that in the absence of sufficient oxygen, meat turns dark purple. Even though the red meat "bloom" returns once the package is opened and exposed again to oxygen, the average consumer judges the meat as undesirable by its appearance.

To be sure, case ready is a phenomenon whose time has come, in some instances, and whose time is still coming in others. That is to say, it's a concept embraced wholeheartedly by some, and less so by others.

"Case ready is the wave of the future, but how fast it grows remains to be seen," food analyst, Jeff Kanter, Prudential Security, NYC, confirms.

That about sums it up -- the staying power of this revolutionary packaging concept seems a sure bet, even though the technology is still evolving.

Let's take a look at some of these issues. First, does it work? The answer, as reinforced by others participating in the report, is yes and no.

Case ready, as it now exists in the marketplace, works well with some meats, but not so well with others. It should also be noted that, though some specialty and niche processors see case ready as a marketing tool, by and large, processors have moved into this area after much work at gaining a modicum of acceptance within the food of retail arena. Due to a host of, reasons, not the least of which relate to food safety, case ready has gamed more than a foothold in supermarkets.

Listen to Gary Sheneman, vice president of case-ready meats for Dakota Dunes, SD-based IBP Fresh Meats, part of the Springdale, AR-based Tyson Foods family. "We embarked on case ready about four years ago, primarily driven by retail demand," he says. "We have grown significantly in this area, and, as we travel around the country we see it, to some degree, in almost every store. In some as little as five to six percent up to one hundred percent -- all of them [stores] are considering to what degree it will make sense for them to convert to case ready."