The Naples, Italy, commissary recently stocked bison fillets and hot dogs, joining 15 other commissaries in Europe that already carry the leaner meat product or soon will. The bison arrives in Europe frozen and is thawed out for sale. It should not be re-frozen. (Sandra Jontz / S&S)
Commissaries are stocking bison — and that ain’t no bull.
Several of the larger Defense Commissary Agency stores in Europe are, or soon will be, stocking bison steaks, patties, ground meat and hot dogs, said DeCA spokeswoman Gerri Young.
Customers’ clamoring for high-protein diets, coupled with calls for healthier foods, prompted DeCA officials to seek out the leaner bison products, she said. Bison is the scientific term for what people commonly call buffalo.
DeCA gets its bison meat from TenderBison, a North Dakota-based company that is a member of the North American Bison Cooperative, which represents 300 U.S. and Canadian buffalo ranches, Young said.
According to the supplier’s Web site, bison tastes similar to natural beef, but is sweeter and more tender than beef — and healthier, even, than skinless chicken. The red meat alternative has less fat and fewer calories than beef.
According to a TenderBison nutritional fact box, per 100 grams of cooked meat, bison has 2.42 grams of fat and 143 calories, compared with 7.41 grams of fat and 190 calories for skinless chicken, 9.28 grams of fat and 211 calories for beef, and 9.66 grams of fat and 212 calories for pork.
But it’ll cost you a bit more than beef. At the commissary in Naples, Italy, for example, an 8-ounce bison steak fillet costs $6.36, making it $12.72 a pound, while a similar tenderloin beefsteak costs $11.08 a pound.
Twelve ounces of hot dogs (four per pack) costs $4.03. One pound of ground bison is $5.04, compared with a one-pound package of 93 percent lean ground beef for $2.09 per pound. A 32-ounce package of bison burgers runs $10.09, compared with eight 6-ounce patties of 85 percent lean beef patties for $5.97.
For now, the bison products in Naples are shelved in the frozen foods aisle. Store manager Jim Carnes says he wants to first gauge how well they sell before thawing them, which shortens their shelf life.
It isn’t a new craze for those living stateside. A 2003 U.S. Department of Agriculture fact sheet said about a million pounds of bison was consumed each month in the United States.
The DeCA-purchased meat is USDA-inspected and approved and all natural, meaning without growth hormones or antibiotics, Young said. It is shipped to Europe frozen, then thawed in some commissaries before being sold, she said. The meat should not be refrozen.
"Early sales reports from the stores are very good and we expect to increase our orders because of that," Young said of the Europe-based commissaries that sell the products. Consumers can have their local commissaries order bison if they don’t carry it, she said.
