DENVER, Colo. – Beef is no longer a jumble of calories and nutrients.
Europeans want to know where their meat came from, Mexicans want it to be fat free and Americans want a healthy product that is convenient and meets their budgets.
The recent International Livestock Congress in Denver analyzed what people want and expect even as the world spirals into economic recession.
“There is some evidence consumers are trading down on the beef they will buy,” said Monty Brown, a U.S. Meat Export Federation representative based in Great Britain who works to sell American beef to Europe.
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Budgets may be tightening, but food traceability expectations remain for the 500 million residents of the European Union.
In Britain, all beef and veal must indicate country of origin, slaughter date, batch numbers, prices, weights and cooking instructions.
The food retailing giant Tesco includes on every package of beef a picture of a farmer who supplies the chain with beef, including a paragraph about where he lives and how he raises his cattle.
However, Brown’s research found the same farmer’s picture is used on many different packages, giving people the false impression that individual is the producer of the beef they’re buying.
He also found that consumers want certain attributes such as organic meat, but few are willing to pay more for it.
“A lot of organic farmers are complaining about the price they are getting for their beef. They are having to sell their organic beef at the regular price,” he said.
However, a beef deficit in Europe is expected to reach 600,000 tonnes in 2010, increasing dependence on imported beef and potentially changing prices.
Mexico also has a shortage of beef, said Ramon Lozano of RYC Alimentos, a 27-year-old meat processing company that supplies food stores with beef, pork, lamb and poultry.
More than 80 percent of imported beef comes from the United States, 13 percent from Canada and smaller amounts from Australia, New Zealand and Chile. Most of the imports are boneless.
More than half of Mexico’s 110 million people have low or marginal household incomes. A large bulge in the population is in the 10- to 24-year-old group.
More people shop in supermarkets and tend to buy more meat as incomes improve, but half the population continues to shop at smaller butcher shops.
Families spend about a quarter of their incomes on food purchases, of which a quarter is spent on meat.
“Chicken and beef compete for that budget,” he said.
Mexicans traditionally ate grass-fed beef and most still prefer the leanest cuts.
They prefer fat trimmed beef sliced three to five millimetres thick, diced or fajita cut.
The cuts are not usually defined by muscle and there is no grading system.
About 11 percent of sales are for variety meats such as tripe and tongue.
Mexican Meat Council surveys have found most people buy meat according to price, freshness, lack of fat, wholesomeness, convenience and whether it is organic.
The U.S. is a large beef consumer, but people are already cutting back because it is considered a luxury item, said John Lundeen, executive director of market research with the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association.
His most recent studies portray an American public no longer optimistic about their economic future.
About half said they were trading down or switching from steaks and roasts to hamburger. A few said they were eliminating beef altogether.
Fewer households reported eating steaks or roasts in a two week period. The largest steak losses were for meals from Monday to Thursday nights.
“We need to figure out how to put steak on those plates on a Tuesday night,” Lundeen said.
The association’s surveys also found people want a tasty product that gives good value for money. It also needs to be nutritious and safe to eat.
While money may be tight, time-short consumers continue to buy more ready-to-eat meals. They eat more frozen food, and more report buying supermarket-prepared items. Twenty percent said they would buy more of this kind of food if there was more variety.
