ABSTRACT
In the two decades since the establishment of the first branded beef programme in 1978, interest or belief in these programmes was relatively low with only another 10 programmes certified by the USDA during this period (Speer, 2013). However, tremendous sales growth and demand for branded beef resulted in a rapid increase in the number of branded beef programmes by the late 1990s. As of 2016, there were 99 different certified beef programmes, each with different programme requirements and branding strategies (USDA, 2016a).
