Join us each week for a comprehensive dive into the Certified Hereford Beef brand

Another common question the Certified Hereford Beef team hears from our farm and ranch families is: “Why is there not Certified Hereford Beef in my area? How can we get it?”

What may seem like a simple process – sourcing Certified Hereford Beef to a certain area of the country – is actually a multi-step process with many layers of involvement. It is important to understand the chain of events surrounding shipment of beef across the country.

Certified Hereford Beef is the marketing entity of the brand. The CHB team’s focus is to bring brand awareness and education to distributors, restaurants, chefs and consumers both domestically and internationally. Certified Hereford Beef does not have ownership of the cattle that go into the program, and the brand does not set market pricing. National Beef and Greater Omaha are the two packing plants for Certified Hereford Beef. Any foodservice or retail distributor wishing to distribute the Certified Hereford Beef product must purchase from one of these two packing companies. These two packing companies are responsible for sourcing cattle, and the cattle are graded by a USDA inspector to qualify for the program specifications at the packing plant.

When foodservice or retail wholesaler purchases Certified Hereford Beef from one of the packers, they can begin selling the product to restaurants and retailers in their area. In order for a restaurant to be able to get the product, they must have a distributor in their region that purchases the product. Certified Hereford Beef, National Beef and Greater Omaha cannot ship product directly to a restaurant.

The flow chart below shows the steps it takes for a restaurant or retailer to have access to and purchase Certified Hereford Beef.

To find a restaurant or grocery store near you that sells Certified Hereford Beef, use our “Where to Buy” function at certifiedherefordbeef.com. Here you can search by city and state or zip code for locations supporting the Certified Hereford Beef brand.

If you would like more information on the Certified Hereford Beef program specifications, click here: https://hereford.org/2018/06/certified-hereford-beef-what-do-you-know-2/

To learn more about how to qualify your cattle for the program, click here:https://hereford.org/2018/07/certified-hereford-beef-what-do-you-know-3/