Category Archives: Meat Export NZ

Export and marketing of NZ meats destined for importers, manufacturing, wholesale, cash-and-carry,retail, foodservice, HRI etc in markets such as US, UK, Asia, France etc using shippers and logistics.

Eton College chef ‘perfectly seasoned’

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Louisa Matthews: 2012 UK-NZ Culinary Challenge winner.

New Zealand venison featured in a British competition for young chefs in April.

The winner of the 2012 Air NZ UK-NZ Culinary Challenge is 20-year-old Louisa Matthews, a young chef from Eton College in Windsor. She fought off tough competition from eight other finalists in a cook-off at Westminster Kingsway College in London to win the opportunity of a lifetime to travel to New Zealand on a three-week study trip experiencing the country’s top restaurants, visiting award-winning vineyards and suppliers, with the option of one week to explore the country.

Showcasing New Zealand venison, manuka honey and Bramley apples, Louisa’s award-winning menu comprised ‘perfectly seasoned and richly flavoured’ roast seabass with aioli crab croquette, mussel stew and winter vegetables, roast loin of venison, venison tortellini and Foie Gras foam; and a steamed manuka honey sponge, caramelised Bramley apple ice-cream and nettle beignet.

The UK-NZ Culinary Challenge was founded by well known Kiwi chef Peter Gordon, owner/chef of Providores and Tapa Room in London. Gordon commented that the eight finalists – all chosen from high calibre entries – “did themselves proud. Dishes were very creative with a good use of secondary cuts of venison from the rib cooked on the bone through to liver and kidneys, along with other interesting ingredients such as foraged foods and pulses. In the kitchen, the amount of gadgetary was a far cry from  the days of young chefs simply using a knife and pan, with molecular gastronomy making an appearance in the form of pea jellies through to foams.

“The qualty of the entries is a fantastic indication of how highly respected the competition is amongst tutors and employers around the UK in regards to the advancement of their junior staff and students.”

Steve Mulcahy, vice-president of competition organiser the British Craft Guild of Chefs, commented that he had no doubt Louisa will be a great ambassador for the competition when she travels to New Zealand to take up this once in a lifetime prize.

The other finalists were: Laura Daniels (Manchester College; Trung Nguyen (Westminster Kinsway College); Luke Orwin (Pan Heggarty Restaurant, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne); Joshua Saunders (Worcester College of Technology); Thomas Sturrock (Kopapa Restaurant, London).

Judges included: Peter Gordon, chef/proprieter The Providores and Tapa Room; David Mulcahy, culinary director Sodexco and Ireland; Anna Hansen, chef/proprieter The Modern Pantry; Sophie Wright, previous winner of the challenge and celebrity chef; and Cristian Hossack, head chef Providores and Tapa Room.

The UK-NZ Culinary Challenge is generously sponsored by Air New Zealand, Dudson, Bleeding Heart Restaurant, Trinity Hill Wines, Providores & Tapa Room, New Zealand Venison, New Zealand Society, Bramley Apples, Comvita and NZ Trade & Enterprise.

www.uknzculinarychallenge.com

 

Eyes on US BSE case

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A case of the cattle brain disease bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) was diagnosed in a cow in the US in April, holding global meat industry attention, but producing cautious response to date.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported that as part of its targeted surveillance system, its Animal and Plant Inspection Service had confirmed a case of BSE in a dairy cow from central California, the first such case since 2006. USDA chief veterinary office John Clifford confirmed that it was never presented for slaughter for human consumption, so at no time presented a risk to the food supply or human health.

Clifford said tests, using immunohistochemistry and western blot tests, “confirmed that the animal was positive for atypical BSE.” Atypical BSE is a rare form of the disease that appears to occur spontaneously. It is different from classical BSE, which is associated with the consumption of ruminant protein.

The US industry leapt into action to reassure markets and consumers that the beef and dairy in the American food supply is safe with US agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack saying that USDA remained confident in the health of US cattle.

When BSE was discovered in animal in 2003, it had a major impact on the US beef industry, as a number of countries banned imports of beef from the US, including Japan and Korea, which had been major US markets.

According to the US International Trade Commission, losses to the industry ranged from $US2.5 billion to $US3.1 billion annually from 2004 through 2007.

Although most markets slowly re-opened their borders, many still impose restrictions on US and Canadian beef. For example, Japan only allows imports of U.S. beef from cattle aged 20 months or less, but its Food Safety Commission is assessing the risk of easing the limit to 30 months.

So far, the response from other countries to the current case has been cautious. Only one country, Indonesia, has banned all US beef imports and, while two major South Korean retailers were reported to have suspended sales of US beef immediately following the announcement, at the time of writing one has since resumed sales.

 Published in Food NZ (June/July 2012).

New Zealand venison: the ‘rockstar’ of meat

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Brad Farmerie, chef owner of New York restaurant ‘Public’.

New Yorkers got the clear message last October that New Zealand venison is the healthy red meat.

A story aired at prime-time on the ABC channel WABC featuring New York chef Brad Farmerie and a well known nutrition advisor Heidi Skolnik talking about the quality, versatility and healthy attributes of Cervena venison, from New Zealand.

According to Farmerie, “Grilled, pan seared or smoked, venison is the new “it” food,” and he should know. At his Soho restaurant Public, he prepares and serves about 10 thousand portions of it each year.

“I know for a fact, this is going to be a rockstar meat going forward, next year, the year after and everywhere from then on,” he says.

Even health food experts agree. Heidi Skolnik, a nutritionist for the New York Knicks, calls it a nutrient powerhouse, pointing out the cut is packed full of iron, zinc and vitamin B12.

“There are less calories, less fat and more nutrients than in a chicken breast and we think of chicken as healthy, which it is but this is like all of the benefits of a red meat with a fifth of the fat of beef,” Skolnik explains.

The three minute story also showed chef Farmerie, who holds a coveted Michelin star for his restaurant Public – NYC, preparing some of the dishes using Cervena venison that he serves in his restaurant.

WABC is a top rating news channel covering the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut – the three states have a combined population of over 18 million.

New Zealand exports around $20 million worth of venison to the USA each year.  Cervena venison is a quality scheme shared by most venison exporting companies that guarantees the venison is farm-raised, tender and delicious.  Deer Industry New Zealand works with venison marketing companies to increase demand for New Zealand venison.

The coverage resulted from work done by Deer Industry New Zealand.  DINZ hosted a function at Public on 12 October, inviting food editors, nutritionists and chefs to an evening to sample New Zealand venison dishes created by Farmerie and to sample New Zealand wines.  About 60 attended, representing food and lifestyle media including Oprah, Dr Oz, The Food Network channel and Food Arts.

The food editor of WABC, Kemberly Richardson took little persuading to produce a story about New Zealand venison, and following filming sessions with Farmerie and an interview with Skolnik, the results screened on October 19.

See the clip below:

 

Carbon labelling dropped

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News from the UK suggests that supermarket giant Tesco has dropped its carbon labelling scheme after four and a half years, after discovering it was taking too long and costing too much money to document each of its 70,000 products. Only about 500 of the products are labelled, with a further 1,500 in the pipeline. The company retains its commitment to carbon footprinting, but will be shifting to global supply chain issues instead.

Evolving halal

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Tony Egan' Greenlea Premier Meats new managing director

Greenlea Premier Meat’s new managing director Tony Egan spoke at the Fifth World Halal Research Summit in Kuala Lumpur on behalf of the NZ meat industry – the first time a New Zealander has been invited to do so. He talks to Food NZ about his return to the Egan family company and the New Zealand message he took to the Summit.

Egan is enjoying returning to the company he originally joined  in 1993, starting on day one working on the beef chain.

“It’s great to be back,” he says, after his 11 years since he left his role as managing director (marketing and finance) in 2001. Not that he’s been exactly idle in between: he spent five years as chief executive for AFFCO New Zealand, which had a turnover of $1.5 billion and 3,500 staff, before moving on to head up 1,700 staff and 130 locations of New Zealand’s largest quality assurance organisation AsureQuality for another five years.

He rejoined Waikato-based Greenlea Premier Meats in December 2011. The company these days has 360 staff, employed over two sites in Morrinsville and Hamilton, and a throughput of 180,300 animals last season. The loyal staff seem to be  happy with the family values promulgated by the company, which include personal touches such as Easter eggs, Christmas hams and a family open day at Morrinsville where families are invited to come in and see what their parents do at work. As one employee Zane Sayer puts it on the website, “Greenlea has a very pleasant work atmosphere and we take comfort in knowing we are able to work through the entire year.”

Having worked in private and public companies plus a State-Owned Enterprise, Egan reckons he’s covered off most of the business models now and is looking forward to putting his skills to work, both for the family company and also for the industry. He’s already a new council member of the Meat Industry Association (MIA).

His knowledge of the evolution of halal processing requirements for a variety of Muslim markets over the years, plus the fact that AsureQuality was involved in independent testing for porcine and alcohol traces on behalf of halal authorities in its 32 staff Singaporean office, made Egan the ideal contender to speak to the Fifth World Halal Research Summit in Kuala Lumpur on behalf of the industry.The Summit was held in conjunction with the Seventh World Halal Research Forum. With 1,000 delegates expected from 40 countries it was an important opportunity for New Zealand.

MAF: best halal service provider 2011

The invitation follows on from an award received by the Ministry of Agriculture & Forestry (MAF) for best service provider at the 2011 Forum – the first time a non-Muslim country had received the award and came a year after MAF implemented the Animal Products (Overseas Market Access Requirements for Halal Assurances) Notice, Egan explains.

“It’s a great credit to the work MAF’s director of market access Tony Zohrab and the rest of the MAF team have done in this area.”

Currently involving 48 certified processing plants, employing 214 qualified halal slaughtermen in this country, New Zealand’s market for exports of red meat and other edible products to Muslim markets was worth nearly $490 million to the year end June 2011, according to the MIA. With its diverse markets, and offering an outlet for reducing reliance on traditional trading partners, halal represents a sizeable cross-border sector for the meat industry to focus on to grow market share and value in line with the Red Meat Sector Strategy.

Evolution of thought

The message Egan will be taking to Kuala Lumpur on behalf of the industry is that the trade has moved away from the supply of frozen carcases to Iran in the 1970s and 80s towards newer markets in Asia.“There has been an evolution of thought and the New Zealand industry has taken the time, over the last 15-18 years, to better understand those Asian consumers,” Egan says, adding that the journey of understanding has led religion and science to come together.

The perfect example of that understanding is the innovative New Zealand-developed method of halal slaughter that through stunning livestock insensible before slaughter satisfies both Muslim religious requirements for live slaughter and New Zealand and other Western consumers’ requirements for humane slaughter. But that’s only part of the stringent processing standards in place here today as part of the accredited halal programme, which also include: segregation of halal product, supervision during processing, the training and certification of all halal slaughtermen and the commitment and urgency of the workforce to ensure compliance to halal standards.

The Halal Notice represents the evolution of thought and has formed a good foundation for the industry, giving customers an all-important government assurance that what they understand is happening is in fact occurring, Egan says.

“The paradigm has shifted from a one-dimensional process to a multi-dimensional one.”

What does the halal customer need?

The concept of halal, defined by the Qu’Ran as ‘allowed’, ‘permitted’ or lawful’ has slowly become accepted as a consumer lifestyle choice, not only encompassing religion and food, but also finance, non-food products and logistics. It provides a set of laws and guiding principles and separates out those animals that are prohibited ‘haram’ and those permitted ‘halal’, as well as outlining methods of slaughtering, prohibits consuming blood or blood products and intoxicants, such as alcohol).

Halal customer’s needs focus on the concept of ‘tayyib‘, Egan explains: “That food is wholesome, nutritional and safe. It brings in many concepts including environmental sustainability, safety and animal welfare and is not particularly onerous for New Zealand processors to provide.”

Although there are a number of other meat exporting countries servicing halal markets, he believes that New Zealand has the opportunity to take a unique approach, particularly in the innovation of processes in the wholesomeness and in the wholesomeness and food safety areas for which this country is renowned.

With an estimated 1.5 billion Muslims around the globe, halal markets are still growing. Indonesia alone, New Zealand’s largest halal market, was worth over $120 million last year and there is a growing range of other halal customers – Singapore, South Africa, China, France and the US (where there are over 10 million Muslims). Customers are interested not only in the meat itself, but also the by-products like offal. There is a growing halal market for raw materials for pharmaceutical and cosmetic use, where Egan says there is also a role for AsureQuality to play

Challenges ahead, however, include dealing with restrictive tariffs and quotas, limiting New Zealand’s access to various markets which the meat industry is working closely on with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade.

Another area is achieving a consistent understanding of what halal certification means across the many different markets.

“New Zealand’s approach is becoming increasingly accepted as the sensible approach,” Egan says, adding that his speaking opportunity outlined what New Zealand Inc is capable of and what’s possible for the future.

Tony Egan spoke at the Fifth World Halal Research Summit, 4-5 April 2012 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Reproduced with kind permission of Food NZ magazine.