Meat Industry Focuses on Sustainability

Sustainability is on the mind of fast-food giant, McDonald's, whose efforts currently focus on verifiable sustainable beef.

Sustainable beef production is, indeed, its priority numbers 1, 2 and 3, according to Bob Langert, McDonald's Global Sustainability VP.

Seafood market sustainability was discussed at the Humber Seafood Summit 2014 in Grimsby last week.

We do not have great consumer confidence in the the UK, and with earnings down and debt rising, it is important we listen to want the consumer wants, according to Jonathan Banks of JB Associates.

He identified four key things that consumers want from their food: convenience, health/well-being, good taste/range and ethically produced.

On global trade talks, the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the European Union and the United States has been met with criticism and is viewed with suspicion.

For Germany, when it came to discussions over the TTIP, key concerns centred around the use of chlorine in chicken production, despite the fact that agricultural products account for less than 1.2 per cent of Germany's trade with the US and chlorine use on chicken carcasses from a scientific perspective is harmless.

Also on trade issues, the US trade representative and ambassador to the World Trade Organization (WTO) has called on Taiwan to set a Maximum Residue Level for ractopamine in pork and other beef products as its has already done for beef cuts.

And finally, in the United States, the government has launched a new strategy to combat antibiotic-resistant bacteria with increased surveillance and faster tests.

In related news, the American Meat Institute and the American Meat Science Association have released a series of five new videos addressing common myths surrounding antibiotic use in livestock and poultry production and antibiotic resistance.