Global Meat Production Rising

In the view of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, meat production globally is expected to grow modestly this year.

However, while production is going to grow, the outlook report from the FAO published last month shows that producers are still going to be struggling with inflated feed prices, despite the fact that they are gradually falling.

Meat production, as has been iterated in many quarters already, is forecast to grow most strongly in the developing countries - as they become wealthier and the population starts to seek a more protein based diet, rather than cereal based.

Production is expected to rise by 4.3 million tonnes to 308.2 million tonnes this year - up by 1.4 per cent on 2012.

Trade is also expected to expand, rising by 1.1 per cent from 29.9 million tonnes to 30.2 million tonnes.

Globally pig meat production is expected to reach a record high - rising by 1.5 per cent to 114.2 million tonnes.

However, the latest quarterly hogs and pigs report from the USDA shows a mixed bag with the market herd just 0.1 per cent down on what it was a year ago but slaughter rates down by 1.3 per cent.

The slight increase in the breeding herd and the latest sow slaughter figures show a potential for an increase in pig meat production next year.

In Europe, the European Food Safety Authority has called for improvements to inspection of beef, sheep, goat and horse meat in slaughterhouses.

EFSA said that traditional practices of meat inspection are not always suitable for detecting the main meat-borne hazards such as Campylobacter and Salmonella or contamination by chemical substances such as persistent organic pollutants or prohibited substances.

For this reason, the European Commission decided that meat inspection practices in the EU should be modernised.