Meat Trade Journal News
Rudolph is proving popular on dinner plates this Christmas, with Lidl reporting strong sales of its smoked reindeer.
The reindeer product, part of Lidl’s Deluxe range, has been on sale for just one week. The retailer said it had been particularly popular in stores in the south east.
A Lidl spokesperson added: “We hope that our reindeer, along with our other super-premium products in the Deluxe range, appeal to anyone who has an interest in fine foods, but does not want to pay the high prices usually associated with them.”
Animal welfare group Viva! has slammed Lidl for selling reindeer meat, asking it to withdraw the product “due to the cruelty inherent in modern forms of herding, as well as slaughter methods that may be illegal in the UK”.
However, the retail giant defended its offering: “The smoked reindeer that we sell is from the Yamal-Nenets autonomous region in Siberia. The reindeers pasture freely in the tundra year-round, changing location on almost a weekly basis. They are herded by local native Nenets people, with reindeer farming playing an enormous cultural and economical part in the lives of the people in this region.
“All reindeer are slaughtered in strict accordance with EU guidelines and our own high standards of food safety, hygiene and animal welfare.”
The Co-operative Food has committed to sourcing all its own-brand meat from British farmers as part of a £1.5bn initiative announced today (5 December).
The three-year commitment to support and celebrate British food sees the retailer pledge to source British products over and above alternatives for its own-brand meat, poultry, produce and dairy products.
With the exception of New Zealand lamb and Danish bacon, all own-brand meat will be British, including its chilled ready meals, pie and sandwiches, with the exception of continental varieties including ingredients such as chorizo
While a spokesperson for The Co-op admitted that the retailer was currently sourcing more or less 100% British meat anyway, he said that the three-year campaign would see the retailer try to make more of its stance to support British food, in terms of its marketing, promoting this aspect more to customers.
Environment secretary Elizabeth Truss has lent her support to the commitment, saying it was a “fantastic vote of confidence for the UK food and drink industry”.
Steve Murrells, The Co-operative Food’s retail chief executive, said: “Trust in retailers has been dented in recent years and we hope our openness about where we source our meat, poultry and produce will encourage more retailers to follow suit.
“Shoppers want to know about the origin of their products and if supermarkets import meat for use in products, it is important that, as well as being identified on product labeling, in-store marketing should not seek to unwittingly mislead.”
Research for the The Co-op’s UK sourcing report, Born and Bred, revealed that 73% of customers had more confidence in British-sourced food, with 86% feeling it was more traceable
Of the food or products shoppers most wanted to be British, fresh meat came top with 72%, while 33% were keen that frozen meat was sourced from Britain, and 29% wanted the same from ready meals.
“These figures show shoppers want to buy more British – we’re supporting this by improving country-of-origin labelling, which will be mandatory for lamb, pork, poultry and goat meat from April next year,” added Truss.
The Co-op said that, in 2014, it expected to have invested a total of £350m in sourcing British meat for its fresh and prepared products: £54m on bacon, pork and sausage; £123m on chicken; £111m on beef; £6.5m on lamb; £44m on cooked meat; and £13m on meat ingredients.
A Northern Irish butcher’s has won a European competition with its products at the Sausage Awards in Normandy, France.
O’Kane Meats, based at Claudy in Co Derry, won Champion of Britain and Ireland category in the annual competition, becoming the first Northern Ireland butchery business to do so. The butcher’s then went on to win the excellence award for its chicken and smoked bacon sausage in the European Creative Sausage category, as well as the top award for its grilled Irish pork sausage.
Michael O’Kane said: “We’re really delighted to have won two very prestigious awards which recognise quality and innovation.
“We’ve been in business since 1989 and have won more than 100 product awards, including Irish trophies for our sausages. Winning this award in the face of such intense competition is a marvelous achievement for the entire team at O’Kane Meats.
“We had heard about the awards over the years and decided to put forward some products to see how they would get on with this expert judging panel.”
The competition featured sausage-makers and charcuterie specialists from all around Europe, and was organised by the Commanderie des Fins Goustiers du Duché d’Alençon. It was launched in 1973 to help promote local food producers in Normandy, before being expanded to focus on artisan and small producers of meat and sausages across Europe.
Two other Northern Irish butcher’s businesses also picked up awards: Clogher Valley Meats, Clogher, Co Tyrone –- winners of Meat Trades Journal Northern Irish Butcher’s Shop of the Year – and McAtamney Butchers in Ballymena, Co Antrim, in both the creative sausage and grilled pork sausages categories.
Graeme Sharp, 24, has been appointed Quality Meat Scotland’s new marketing executive.
Sharp, who succeeds Jack Broussine, will be leading the Specially Selected Pork marketing activity, as well as looking after independent retailers, including the successful Scotch Butchers’ Club, and the public procurement sector.
He is an International Management graduate from Heriot Watt University, and joins QMS from the family butcher’s shop in Linlithgow.
Laurent Vernet, head of marketing at QMS, said: “Graeme brings a huge amount of practical knowledge and experience with him from the red meat sector and will undoubtedly strengthen our existing marketing activities in order to promote the high-quality product that Scottish farmers produce.”
The Soil Association has claimed its Organic September campaign caused a ‘boom’ in the organics market, causing growth of 3.6% during the month.
Nielsen figures showed that sales of organic products in September exceeded £100 million, and the Soil Association said this was down to its campaign, “proving small changes can add up to a big difference”.
Organic September encouraged consumers to change their shopping habits for the month by putting organic food and drink in their trolleys. The campaign involved local independent retailers and online and national UK supermarkets, and reached over six million people through social media, according to the Soil Association.
Finn Cottle, trade consultant at the Soil Association, said; “This is a clear sign informed UK shoppers are becoming more loyal to organic food and drink. Campaigns like Organic September, alongside recent positive publicity and a renewed emphasis on innovation and new listings, are all helping to bolster performance. The organic sector has been performing exceptionally well since the release of Newcastle University’s research on the benefits of organic, and in fact this growth has taken place against the backdrop of a deflated non-organic sector. New products and wider accessibility to organic will continue to help secure growth in this market.”
The organics group said new figures suggested continued growth for the sector. The 52 weeks to 11 October 2014 showed growth of 1.6%, compared to the same period last year. It added that organic poultry had been one of the best performers, with growth of 6.6%. The independent retail sector saw organic sales grow by 6.9%.
Mike Kilcourse, commercial director at wholesaler Tree of Life, said: “Interest in organic foods has been particularly strong recently. Sentiment among our retail customers is positive. Recent growth in sales of organic products will have been helped by marketing and promotional activities right the way through the supply chain. Campaigns such as the Soil Association’s Organic September month-long promotion, which we were glad to support this year, go a long way to help raise awareness.”
A poultry company is looking to set up a state-of-the-art processing plant at a former cheese packing factory near Wrexham, potentially investing up to £10 million and creating 150 jobs in the area.
Maelor Poultry has put forward proposals, on which it said it will be working closely with Wrexham Council. The proposals, it added, were currently in the early stages of the planning process at the former First Milk site at Marchwiel.
A spokesman for Maelor Poultry said: “We anticipate an initial investment of up to £10m on this site, to create a leading-edge production facility. We have been seeking a suitable site for this facility for some time and are excited at the prospect of the Maelor Creamery, which has had a long history of highly productive food processing. The geographical location lends itself to such a facility because of the proximity of numerous poultry farmers and a local hatchery.
“There will be investment in modernising the site, and developing a state-of-the-art processing plant. And of course, this area has a wealth of experienced food industry workers, whom we hope will embrace the opportunity to be part of the next phase in this well-known site’s story.”
The company added that the regional economy will receive a boost, with direct and indirect job creation due to supply chain opportunities both in the Welsh border area, and into Shropshire and Cheshire.
Maelor Poultry said, it intended to redevelop the facility, which has been operational for more than 60 years, in accordance with sustainability principles at both local and national levels, using existing buildings and facilities to accommodate a modern, efficient poultry processing plant.
Meat processor Tulip has created a new group innovation & NPD director role, appointing Stacey Howe to fill the position.
Howe has joined Tulip after working as the NPD & innovations director at the Hain Daniels Group, where she was responsible for concept and process development across all of the group’s functions.
She said: “I am very excited to have joined such a dynamic organisation and am really looking forward to contributing to the continued success of the Tulip business as it evolves to meet the ever-changing demands of the UK consumer.”
Tulip explained that Howe brings varied retail and manufacturing experience to the role at Tulip, having also held a number of positions with companies such as Marks & Spencer and Pret A Manger.
Tulip’s chief executive officer Chris Thomas said: “I am delighted that we have been able to attract an individual of Stacey’s caliber and experience to lead our innovation & NPD agenda at this exciting phase of our development.
“We have enjoyed exceptional growth over the past few years and I am confident that Stacey’s experience of the food retail and manufacturing sectors will prove invaluable as we look to build on our great food culture and further strengthen Tulip’s position as the UK’s leading food solutions business.”
Lamb prices are beginning to pick up after declining over recent months, but they still remain lower than last year, according to Quality Meat Scotland (QMS).
Stuart Ashworth, head of economics at QMS, said lamb prices had picked up over the past fortnight to stand at 150p/kg lightweight, an increase on 143p/kg three weeks ago. However, Ashworth noted that this was still 10% lower than last year’s prices.
Ashworth attributed low prices to an increase in supply and carcase weights, with UK abattoirs slaughtering 6.5% more sheep than last year. “The challenge for producers is to manage the orderly delivery of this increased supply onto the market within customer specification.
“Earlier this year there has been a higher than normal proportion of lambs exceeding the standard quality quotation upper weight limit of 45.5kg liveweight,” Ashworth added.
He was confident that the increased lamb numbers would supply export markets where lamb supply was tighter – for instance France and Spain. However, this has met with difficulty over exchange rates as sterling remains strong against the euro, which is “more challenging” for Scottish and UK lamb exporters.
“Adding to this export pressure is weak consumer demand in Europe,” said Ashworth.
“France has seen the consumption of lamb decline by almost 7% during July, although the country’s domestic production fell by 3%. Over the longer period of January to July, however, consumption has increased slightly.”
The Bakers’ and Butchers’ Autumn Fair 2014 saw butchers and exhibitors from across the country gather for a day of networking and competition.
Held in Newark, Nottinghamshire, the fair hosted the National Pie Competition and the Champion of Champions sausage competition. Craig Finch from Craig Finch Butchers was crowned sausage champion for the second consecutive year. Meanwhile, Pork Pie of the Year went to Simon Haigh, Bolster Moor Farm Shop; Savoury Pie of the Year to Simon Haigh, Bolster Moor Farm Shop; Steak and Kidney Pie of the Year was awarded to Trevor Fairburn, Trevor Fairburn Butchers; and finally Pasty of the Year went to Robert Bowring, R Bowring Farmers & Butchers.
Television presenter Keith Chegwin presented the winners with their trophies while providing some light entertainment for visitors. Chegwin told Meat Trades Journal the competitions were a great way to celebrate the industry. Talking about his local butcher, Chegwin said: “I am not a real fan of the supermarket cuts, which is awful to say, they might advertise reasonable steak or what have you, but it’s just reasonable – it’s not very good. But if you find a good butcher, they can give you good advice.”
Throughout the day the centre stage, sponsored by the Dalesman Group, who also presented a demonstration on its new range of sauces, played host to a range of talks about how to make the most out of your butchery business, including: Sam Flynn, The Social Media Success Maker; Matthew Southam, Eblex & Stefan Porter, Market Porter, on the benefits of trading online; Stephen Hallam, Dickinson & Morris on What is an authentic Melton Mowbray pork pie?; and Steve Derrick from Lucas Ingredients on how to get profit from pork pies using Lucas’ ingredients.
Ed Bedington, editor of MTJ, which co-organised the event with sister title British Baker, hailed the day a success and looked forward to next year: “The Butchers’ and Bakers’ Fair is always a popular attraction and this autumn’s event proved no different. There was a great mix of speakers, exhibitors and competitions, which drew butchers from far and wide.
“We were delighted with the attendance and the interaction across the trade and I think a great day was had by all. We now look forward to organising next year’s event, which we will aim to make bigger and better yet, building on the success of the Newark show.”