Monthly Archives: July 2012

Recommended reading

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Red Meat Sector Conference presenters recommended a number of books to check out:

  • Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable (ISBN 978-1-59184-317-7), Seth Rodin, published 2009 by Portfolio . Recommended by Rick Stott, Agri Beef.
  • The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference (ISBN 0-316-31696-2), Malcolm Gladwell, first published by Little Brown in 2000. Also recommended by Rick Stott.
  • Thinking, Fast and Slow (ISBN 9781429969352) , Daniel Kahneman, published Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2011. Recommended by Nigel Latta.

Separately, Tiger Head, Snake Tails (ISBN 978 1 84737 393 9), Jonathan Fenby, 2012 Simon and Schuster is a must-read for those wanting to understand China better.

In the news this week (2) …

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There was plenty going on at the Red Meat Sector Conference in Queenstown this week, but there were also a few other things appearing in the press. 

China eyes up top-end lamb cuts, writes Tim Cronshaw, in an article about Alliance Group sensing growing interest from its Chinese customers in some of the higher value cuts, rather than the lamb flaps traditionally used for hot pot dishes.

B+LNZ Ltd held it’s ‘Farming on the Edge of Science’ Day at Massey University on 11 July.  Dominion Post farming editor, Jon Morgan, was in attendance, alongside the farming participants. His report (Science day teaches farmers new tricks, 19 July) makes good reading and shows how farmers were shown the latest in pastures and forages, management and new technology and animal production in a series of three workshops (this is not available online as yet).

 

Farewell to a pioneer

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The New Zealand meat industry lost one of its true pioneers last weekend. It was announced at the Red Meat Sector Conference that Graeme Lowe CNZM QSM of Lowe Corporation, had passed away after a long illness. Graeme had recently been inducted into the NZ Business Hall of Fame in recognition not only of his business acumen and innovative approach to the New Zealand meat business, but also his support for Hawke’s Bay charities. Our sympathies go to his widow Jenny, son Andy and daughters Sarah and Kate and their families.

German festival-goers flock to eat New Zealand lamb and venison

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New Zealand lamb and venison were in such hot demand at Northern Europe’s biggest summer festival, the organisers had to get in extra chefs to satisfy the hungry queues.

Beef + Lamb New Zealand and Deer Industry New Zealand were invited to take part in this year’s Kieler Woche celebrations – the first time in the festival’s 130-year history New Zealand has been represented at the international market.

Cristian Hossack, seen here plating up for Kiel Woche, is the former head chef at Peter Gordon’s Providores restaurant in London. He is returning to New Zealand.

The market in Kiel’s picturesque main square is at the hub of more than 2,000 sports and cultural events which attract around three million visitors annually to a city with a population not much bigger than Hamilton’s.

Working 16 hours a day for 10 days, the Kiwi culinary team led by Marton-born chef Cristian Hossack (pictured right) served 7,000 lamb burgers, venison wraps and lamb salads, complemented by wines from Hawke’s Bay vineyard Coopers Creek.

Nick Beeby, B+LNZ Ltd manager for emerging markets and strategic projects, says it was great to be working alongside a chef of Cristian’s stature. A food critic who ‘mystery dined’ the festival rated the New Zealand offering top for food, service and value for money, stating “it was like eating at a restaurant.”

“It’s hardly surprising the food was so popular or received the plaudits it did,” Beeby says. “With a top chef and top produce, you can’t go wrong. But it’s even more impressive when you realise the chefs were juggling questions as well as pans.

“There was a constant queue of festival-goers lined up not only to taste our lamb and venison, but to find out more about its production, how to cook it and where to buy it; asking questions about everything from knife sharpening to sustainable farming practices. People loved it and we’ll definitely be going back again.”

The joint venture aimed to raise awareness of New Zealand lamb and venison in Germany, where consumers do not traditionally eat much of either.

Innes Moffat, venison marketing services manager at DINZ says the novelty was a bonus. B+LNZ and DINZ both run comprehensive marketing programmes in Germany. However the Kiwi presence at the festival for the first time generated lots of media interest and free publicity on television and radio, and in the press.

B+LNZ and DINZ attended in conjunction with a major Northern European retailer which sells New Zealand lamb and venison 12 months of the year – so festival-goers knew where to go to get it.

The two organisations will come together again in August for a three-day festival in Frankfurt, where around 40,000 visitors are expected through the New Zealand pavilion.

Photos below are courtesy of B+LNZ Ltd.

‘Best in Season’ venison

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Firstlight Foods tell us through their excellent blog that it was their turn to visit their First Venison UK counterparts in the ‘Best in Season’ fresh venison partnership with Waitrose. First Venison UK is Waitrose’s (recently re-named…) UK venison producer group. Firstlight Venison and First Venison UK together supply Waitrose with ‘Best in Season’ fresh venison.

 

In the news this week …

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We’re starting a new weekly round-up of the week’s top meaty news items. Changes to shipping arrangements have been front page news here in New Zealand and will probably be on the minds of delegates for next Monday’s Red Meat Sector Conference in Queenstown. But there’s also been a ‘world first’ for venison scanning, among other items.

Starting from next month, ports in Wellington and Nelson will be added to Maersk’s Southern Star run, which links New Zealand directly to the Malaysian hub port Tanjung Pelepas, according to the Dominion Post. The more reliable service with the dedicated hub will attract chilled meat exporters, Centreport’s operations general manager Steve Harris is quoted as saying, ” … because the time that the product is on the shelf in Europe … is critical.”

This followed the news, earlier in the week when shippers Maersk and Hamburg-Sud announced that they are withdrawing container pickups from the Port of Timaru, slicing $6 million off that Port’s annual revenue and resulting in the loss of about 50 port jobs. The service will be streamlined and will now operate from Napier to Otago. The new arrangements will come into place in mid-September, just prior to the start of the new meat export season.

Also in Timaru, in what’s said to be a “world first for venison scanning”, meat scanning technology already used for lamb and cattle is to be introduced for deer at Alliance Group’s new venison processing chain at Timaru’s Smithfield site later in the season.

Meanwhile, deer farmers are eyeing Europe, as exporters organise their chilled venison contracts for the European game season, according to a Fairfax news report. Venison prices are said to have “so far maintained a level of stability reflected in the meat schedule prices deer producers were being paid.”

New Zealand beef was amongst a ‘greymarket’ consignment of smuggled goods on a container ship seized by Chinese authorities after attempts were made to smuggle it into China. The frozen meat cargo worth US$10 million also contained other beef, chicken wings and pork from the US, Brazil and Australia. One Australian industry commentator has estimated the smuggled meat trade from Hong Kong, Schenzen and Vietnam accounts for 500,000 tonnes each year. Lower tariff rates for New Zealand meat, as a result of the free trade deal with China will make this trade less profitable for smugglers. However, concerns are for food safety of the smuggled perishable products as the cold chain may not be managed efficiently.

Click on any of the links to read more about each item.

Animal welfare initiatives

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A number of animal welfare initiatives, including newly updated guidelines for animal transport within New Zealand, a review of the Animal Welfare Act 1999, development of a new national strategy, plus distribution of a revised toolkit for farmers are underway.

A newly updated Transport within New Zealand Code of Animal Welfare was issued by the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (NAWAC) in 2011, alongside a review of the code for Meat Chickens and a new Goats code, according to the Committee’s newly released 2011 annual report.

The Transport Code covers all animals transported by land, sea or air within New Zealand. It provides clarity about who is responsible for the welfare of animals at all stages of transportation and gives direction about how this must be achieved.

Committee chairman John Hellstrom, says the Code has been rapidly adopted by industry since its launch in September. “It is gratifying to see this code, like the earlier dairy, sheep and beef and pig codes being widely adopted within industry guideline.”

Other activities for the year covered in the annual report included developing advice for the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) and the Minister on aspects of the proposed revision of the Animal Welfare Act 1999. Among the issues considered were the future roles of the committee, the effectiveness of Codes of Welfare and alternatives, the welfare of wildlife and methods for increasing the transparency of NAWAC’s process and activities.

NAWAC is an independent advisory committee to the Minister for Primary Industries. It was established under the Animal Welfare Act 1999 to provide advice to Ministers on matters relating to the welfare of animals in New Zealand and to develop codes of welfare.

A copy of the new Code can be downloaded from MPI’s website, where a hard copy can also be ordered.

New national strategy

Alongside the review of the Act, MPI is also currently working on the development of a national strategy for animal welfare, which will set the future direction of animal welfare in New Zealand and outline the Government’s key priorities over the next few years, according to MPI’s newsletter Welfare Pulse. Input has been obtained from key stakeholders like vets, animal industries, animal advocacy groups and users of animals in research and teaching.

The final strategy and legislative proposals will be presented to the Minister for Primary Industries in late 2012 or early 2013. It is intended that an amendment Bill be introduced to the House during the first half of next year.

Revision of Animal Welfare Toolkit

This activity adds to the newly re-launched Animal Welfare Toolkit for farmers. This was released at the Federated Farmers conference recently and is now being distributed to farmers nationally. Beef + Lamb NZ Ltd, Deer Industry New Zealand, Federated Farmers and the New Zealand Veterinary Association were among the organisations working on the revision with MPI. A copy can be downloaded here (search ‘Animal Welfare Toolkit’).