Crossword Genius

Reinforce bad news about meat price? (4,2)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

beef up

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'reinforce' is the definition.
(I know that reinforce is a more specific form of the action beef up)

'bad news about meat price?' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'meat' could be 'beef' (beef is a kind of meat) and 'beef' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'up' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for beef up that I've seen before include "buttress" , "Strengthen with cow meat?" , "Gain muscle" , "Add strength to" , "message poor meat-eaters won't want to hear?" .)

I've seen this clue in The Sun.
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