The acquistion, which was signed three weeks ago, follows on four years of negotiations with the 25-year-old company, which prides itself on producing the most superior quality brand of beef on the American market.

Angus, a breed of cattle originating in Scotland, is a favourite among discriminating beef lovers who place emphasis on the texture and flavour of the meat.

According to Tom Tyler, CPJ's co-chairman, the current 88 per cent tariff was protecting a non-existent local industry. "The local industry cannot satisfy the demand for this product.It just isn't big enough," he told the Business Observer at a beef lovers' convention Monday night.

The convention, which saw presentations from Maggie O'Quinn, Angus Beef's executive account manager for the company's international operations, and Elizabeth Wunderlich, Caribbean manager for the US Meat Export Federation, represented a sort of coming-out party to celebrate the franchise.

It was attended by several players in the tourism industry desirous of learning how best to cater for tourists' paletes where beef was concerned, and, by extension, chalk up bigger profits.

Part of O'Quinn's job on Monday was to talk up the advantages of the pricey product, which, according to her statistics, accounted for approximately 8 per cent of the beef produced in the United States. The single-digit percentage, she said, was attributable to the stringent quality requirements that had to be met before the company would put its stamp of certification on the product.

Source: The Jamaica Observer