TheMeatSite Newsletter - 30 June 2010

Wednesday 30th June 2010

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Welcome to this week's newsletter

Editorial: Chinese Meat Industry Moves Ahead

The China International Meat Industry Exhibition and Summit, taking place this week in Beijing, has seen the establishment of a new committee to oversee food safety issues in the Chinese industry.

The Complaint Mediation Committee of the China Meat Association will help to set standards, publicise new rules and legislation and handle consumer complaints and concerns about food safety.

The summit also saw the announcement of the 12th five year plan for the Chinese meat industry, which will see a growing investment in new technology and a commitment to streamline the industry and develop safe and higher quality products.

The summit has also seen closer ties and trading agreements between Canada and China for beef products.

In Europe, new legislation has been called for to ensure fair returns to farmers and transparent prices to consumers, by enforcing fair competition throughout the food supply chain.

Suggestions as to how to ensure fairness throughout the food chain, by tackling dominant positions, unfair commercial and contractual practices and late payments, and also by improving the bargaining position of farmers, are set out in a report drafted by French Green Party MEP José Bové.

In the UK, the National Beef Association has called for a greater effort to restore carcase balance in trade as it sees too much emphasis on the sales of minced beef.

Chris Harris

This Week's Feature Articles

We have 5 new features this week:

GLOBAL POULTRY TRENDS - Rising Human Population and Per Capita Consumption in Asia Boost Total Chicken Demand
In the final part of our series of special features entitled Global Poultry Trends about Asia for ThePoultrySite, Terry Evans explains that within five years, 60 per cent of the world's people will live in Asia. Combined with a growing demand for all meats there, this region will account for an increasing share of global chicken meat output.

Opportunities for Duck Production
Seen from a global perspective and in comparison to chickens, ducks are not an important source of food, but the duck is an important provider of both meat and eggs in Asia and particularly China, according to Richard Bird. Jackie Linden, editor of TheMeatSite, reports on his prediction that the growth of Chinese duck production will soon impact the industry and eating habits in western countries.

Stable Output but Lower Income for French Charcuterie
The French charcuterie industry had a difficult year in 2009, with total output stable at 1.3 million tonnes but total sales value for the year down by 7.9 per cent at €6.6 billion, according to figures released by the national charcuterie federation FICT, writes Peter Crosskey for TheMeatSite.

The Meat Security Net
Meat producers are embracing new technology as a way of ensuring product quality, traceability and foreign object detection, writes Richard Mills of Foss.

International Meat Review - 10 June 2010
US exports of agricultural products for the first quarter of the year estimated to value $104.5 billion, up from the previous forecast of $100.0 billion, according to the International Meat Review.