Challenges and opportunities for the meat sector

very thought-provoking and for your health’ lobby is controversial but friendly (especially with regards to interesting presentation by David fortunately is currently getting lost in the packaging waste that is recyclable) and AHughes, Emeritus Professor of Food cacophony of media noise about what is concern about social values and the health Marketing, Imperial College London was good or bad for you! of their customers. recently given at the Biomin World The big challenge in the modern day Nutrition Forum in Vancouver, Canada. production of animal products for human Here we highlight some of the key Green credentials consumption is to define exactly which points from this presentation, which was attributes consumers’ value and are willing entitled ‘Driving the protein economy: Prof Hughes sees well financed start-up to pay for. Unprecedented challenges and companies, mainly based in California, that In this context, products which can claim opportunities’. are launching analogue meat and egg some or all of the following should be able The global human population will increase products as a real medium-to-long-term to command premium prices: by two billion over the next 30 years with threat. These non-meat proteins will l Free range. most of the growth coming from emerging compete on their taste, price and green l Slow grown. countries. This, coupled with higher credentials. l Happy/contented. incomes, will put pressure on the world’s Historically, price, taste and convenience l Grass fed. protein suppliers, with poultry, pork and have been the consumers’ principal drivers l Vegetarian-fed. eggs growing the fastest. Farmed fish and but they are now looking more and more at l Aberdeen Angus. seafoods will more than compensate for product attributes, such as place and l Rare breed. their decline in caught wild products. method of production, provenance and l Produced by Farmer Jones. In the short term, prices will be volatile background story, care of the local l Organic. but, hopefully, will be more stable in the economy, animal and worker welfare, l Omega-3-rich. longer term. While in many countries meat environmental impact and overall l Local. consumption is increasing, there are sustainability. Words like chicken, beef, pork and fish are countries in the developed world where Recent surveys suggest that there is a real commodity nouns which earn commodity consumption, especially of beef and pork, is willingness to pay more for products with prices and still give a decent return to the static or even in decline. strong environmental credentials. lowest cost producers. However, attractive Recent research from the UK highlights The ‘green bar’ is rising all the time and margins are in the adjectives, such as that this is mainly due to health concerns the challenge for the food industry is to ‘Farmer Jones’ Scottish, grass fed, Aberdeen (58% of respondents), to save money in meet or, better still, to exceed consumer Angus beef’. difficult times (21%), animal welfare expectations and thereby gain their long- Consumers want their purchases to be concerns (20%), food safety (19%) and term loyalty. ‘free from’ and prefer to see these worries about the environmental impact of This is not just a Western phenomenon specified, rather than to just be told that livestock farming (11%). and Asian consumers are now increasingly their purchase is additive free. Examples The ‘processed meat and red meat is bad giving their custom to environmentally here include:

28 International Food & Meat Topics • Volume 28 Number 1 their perceived environmental credentials may herald a bright future and make them serious competition to real meats. Our global meat industry has a great future, which is strewn with challenges (as shown in the box below). n Challenges for the future

l Prices for the principal inputs of intensive livestock production (>50% of total costs) are inherently unstable.

l Meat demand is predictable – l Antibiotic-free. l In a format that can be eaten as a snack. buoyant in emerging markets and l Hormone-free. The traditional three meals a day eating subdued or even static in developed l Additive-free. pattern is breaking down, some might say it countries. Campylobacter-free. has already broken down! Snacking or the l Vocal special interest groups stress l Salmonella-free. pattern of eating frequent, smaller meals is l GMO-free. emerging. Consumers are therefore looking the need to reduce growth on health l grounds. This has resonance with some l Gluten-free. for solutions and avoiding problems. Nowadays, the expectation is that these Chunks of meat are now often perceived consumers and is disproportionately will be provided as a matter of course and as problematic. Historically, the answer to covered by the media. with no additional premium price. the question “what shall we have for dinner l ‘New wave’ meat analogues, based on tonight” was pork or chicken; nowadays it is plant proteins and with strong financial much more likely to be a Chinese, Italian or backers are starting to have market The use of antibiotics Indian meal! traction and could become substantial This change brings opportunities to add competitors. Another issue of the day is the use of value to meat and, to date, the poultry antibiotics to improve growth efficiency. industry has responded quickly to this l Around the world middle income Major groups like McDonalds and Yum challenge. consumers want more from their meat, (owners of KFC) are continually responding The pork industry has long had such an although they may buy less. to pressure from their shareholders and orientation with products like ham, bacon, l The more tangible attributes there are special interest groups to remove the salami and sausages. The global salmon that command a premium price, the routine usage of antibiotics. The global market has opportunities to follow with the greater the likelihood of food fraud. interest was highlighted in May 2016 when universal attraction to sushi. the Economist magazine identified the Beef and lamb need to urgently focus in a l Chicken, pork, beef, lamb and fish are livestock sector as a particular culprit in the similar fashion. commodity nouns with extraordinarily overuse of antibiotics in an article entitled One of the enigmas of the global meat thin margins, so profits lie with the ‘When The Drugs Don’t Work’. protein industry is that the fish and seafood adjectives supporting these nouns for In China and some other emerging sector rarely considers that it competes the consumer-centred meat business. countries food safety is a major issue and with the land based meat sector and vice l All consumers want safer meat with there is a pervasive concern about food versa – yet, to the consumer, meat, fish, high integrity supply chains and their chain integrity. eggs and plant derived proteins are great preference is to have meat free Looking at this positively, consumer substitutes for each other. from antibiotics, hormones and concerns and consumer demand for food Globally, fish and seafood are in the prime additives, irrespective of the scientific with compelling stories creates substantial position with poultry and pork sharing rationale for their use. commercial opportunities for companies second place. If we take dominant China who understand the consumer, have high out of the equation then fish and seafood l Building trust with consumers starts integrity processes and closely managed share prime position with poultry. with understanding their values relating supply chains with trusted partners. In much of Asia and Africa, fish is the to meat and then aligning industry On the downside many of the product major source of protein for consumers and values to these. attributes being sought by the consumer the big global battle is that affordable meat In urban, middle-class societies with can not be easily detected and this protein lies between ‘industrially produced’ l small households, selecting meat species provides opportunities for food fraud. fish and poultry meat. for the main family meal is old- Companies must be able to deliver the Farmed fish such as tilapia and pangasius fashioned. Finding a quick and easy promises they give! In recent times are highly efficient converters of feed when solution is more pertinent. The first successful products have been: it comes to producing meat, with chicken decision is, will it be an Indian, Chinese, Really tasty and ‘more-ish’. next. The challenge for pork, and especially l Italian or Mexican meal. Whether it is Convenient. beef and lamb producers, is to distance l pork, chicken or seafood based is very Given strong health and well-being their products from the intense l much a secondary issue. hooks. competition between the ‘white meats’. l Wrapped up with strong social values. In addition, all meat producers will have l The future looks bright! The biggest l Made up from a few simple, natural to keep a close eye on the emerging meat challenge is to move quickly from being ingredients. analogues that seem to be getting a production orientated/supply driven to l Linked with a super ingredient, for toehold, particularly in the developed a consumer facing/friendly meal and example, omega-3. markets. Their much improved taste and snack provider. l Indulgent, but affordable. ‘mouth feel’ which is similar to meat, plus

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