Launch of a branded beef cuts range by Midland Meat Packers demonstrates how the industry has been forced to reinvent itself since BSE. Most of Britain's beef export trade was in cow carcasses, not meat from prime cattle for continental supermarkets. MMP was the main processor and shipper of this cowbeef. After the ban, the company became a supplier of clean beef to the domestic multiples. This switch by MMP and a couple of its major competitors accounted for a lot of the tension and talk of overcapacity in the domestic beef processing sector. However, although MMP invested heavily in upgrading its plant at Crick, the technical sophistication of the UK's biggest single-site beef processor was not at first matched by marketing flair. That began to change a couple of years ago under former chief executive Richard Field, and recently there has been increasing evidence of MMP exploiting the consumer market experience acquired as a big supplier of petfood. Now MMP is adopting the controlling family's name as a brand logo with its Fred Baker cuts. These will vary seasonally, with Quick Cook Steak now available, and forequarter braising and casserole lines planned for the winter. {{MEAT }}

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