
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, November 4, 1993                   TAG: 9311040062
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

OUR KROGERS CARRY MAVERICK LITE

In the three years that the Kroger Co. stores in Western Virginia have carried Maverick Brands Lite Beef, sales of the low-fat, natural beef have been slow, said Roy Oliver, head of meat merchandising for Kroger's Mid-Atlantic Region, based in Roanoke.

The light beef sells for about $1 a pound more than beef products with higher fat content. And the idea of low-fat beef also hasn't caught on with the majority of shoppers, he said.

However, some stores have begun to market the product more aggressively with some success, Oliver said.

He said a Kroger supermarket in Winston-Salem, N.C., has begun selling the beef to a hospital next door after the store's meat department workers lobbied the hospital's nutritionists.

Department of Agriculture standards for the "lite" designation require that the meat have no more than 10 percent fat. Maverick ground round has 7 percent, the ground chuck 9 percent.

Most Maverick beef comes from Salers cattle, a French breed that has smaller fat cells, resulting in lower volume of lipids and a less cholesterol in the meat, said Roy Moore, owner of the Denver company.

He said the cattle are guaranteed to be free of steroids, pesticides and antibiotics. The beef is grown on various western ranches, including some his family owns in Idaho and Oregon, he said.

Moore said he has given Maverick meat to U.S. Olympic training centers since 1987. Kroger is his biggest paying customer, however. He sells to two Eastern Kroger divisions and Kroger-owned King Souper stores in Denver.

by CNB