February 2006

2006 saw the meat industry face a busy, challenging year.

On one hand, pig producers enjoyed unexpectedly good prices, owing in part to the long, hot summer and consumers’ anxiety over bird flu. On the other hand, all of us in the meat industry had our fair share of media attention. Welfare standards, local sourcing and the environmental impact of the modern food industry were just some of the themes exercising journalists’ attention over the last 12 months.

So, what can we learn for the year ahead? For me, one theme stands out. All of us in the meat industry (and that includes both the home industry and overseas suppliers) need to work harder than ever to earn and retain trust with our stakeholders. Only through this will we retain consumer confidence.

We all know the issues that took hold during 2006 are here to stay. Climate change is a topic affecting all sectors of society, but the food industry can expect to play its part in the debate – as already seen at the Oxford Farming Conference earlier this month - which will continue to put producers and retailers at centre stage.

Food safety and quality, and the heated diet-health debate will continue to bubble away. We’ve also seen increasing calls for more detailed labelling, so I expect that country of origin, nutrition and animal welfare will continue to stay in the spotlight. And I doubt very much that we have seen the last health scare story about ‘the dangers of eating red meat’.

Much will be demanded of the meat industry in 2007, as retailers, regulators and the public expect ever higher standards. It is in all our interests to maintain momentum and rise to the challenge. Maintaining a progressive outlook, honesty and openness should be hallmarks of meat industry discussion and action. Debate will remain healthy and important but, at the same time, we must resist the temptation for cheap point scoring in the media. There is little to be gained from public spats and point-scoring between producer bodies.

For our part, the Danish industry will continue to be transparent about what we are doing and why we are doing it. We’ve already demonstrated this through a comprehensive mix of independent auditing and rigorous control procedures right through the production chain. We have also taken the opportunity to reaffirm our support for the principle of clearer labelling. But this principle must also be founded on an objective assessment of the level of information required by different consumer groups, rather than an overly complicated approach, occasionally demanded by vested interests in this debate. This would merely serve to reduce rather than enhance the clarity of information provided.

Our review of 2006 shows, we have also worked hard to represent the Danish position with retailers, the media and consumers themselves.

There is a lot to tackle, but all the issues we face also present opportunities. I am confident that with information sharing, co-operation and constructive debate, we can build even higher trust and confidence in the sector as a whole.