Steve Murrells, CEO, Hilton Food Group, Ruth McDonald, Corporate Services Director, Morrisons and Jane Treasure, Food & Beverage Director, Pizza Express have been announced as the keynote speakers at the UK & Ireland Meat Business Women conference in May 2024.

The conference, taking place at NatWest, Bishopsgate London on Wednesday, May 22 will be themed around ‘The Power of Us.’ Speakers will share their insights into how they see the meat and food industry evolving over the next five years, including key challenges, and opportunities for their respective sectors. They’ll also be providing delegates with key learnings from their personal career journeys and on the conference theme, including insights into mentoring, industry collaboration, allyship at work and how delegates can support one another’s’ career progression.

Matthew Stoughton-Harris, Economics and Public Policy Manager, IGD will also give an update on market and consumer trends.

Delegates will also hear from leaders outside of the food industry, in a panel themed on ‘The Power of Collective Change.’ The panel will feature change-makers Zara Mohammed, Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Britain, Kate Stephens, CEO of Smartworks Charity, Angela Owen OBE, Founder, Women in Defence UK and Sharniya Ferdinand, Enterprise Community Strategy Director, NatWest. All panelists will share their stories of leadership in order for delegates to gain different perspectives to take forward to their day to day roles.

In response to the findings of the 2023 Gender Representation Report on the importance of allyship in progressing gender equality in the workplace, a new panel discussion will take place themed on ‘Allyship in Action’ featuring Craig Tomkinson, Chief Finance Officer, 2 Sisters Food Group, Richard Phelps, Agriculture Director, ABP Food Group, Nicola Washington, Head of Food Safety & Quality, Cranswick plc, Ian Lindsay, Managing Director, Smithfield Foods and will be chaired by Andrea Jex, Procurement Director, Hilton Foods.

Delegates will also have the chance to take part in a dedicated personal development and networking session in the afternoon to workshop the themes of the day and build business connections.

In order to ensure the conference is accessible for all, it will also be livestreamed, allowing for delegates who are not able to attend in person, to access and take part in the morning sessions and keynote speakers.

In person tickets are now sold out, but a waiting list is in operation. Virtual tickets are available to buy individually, or as a group.

Meat Business Women is grateful to MorePeople for sponsoring the lunch, and to NatWest for providing the conference venue.

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The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has launched a public consultation seeking views on new guidance relating to Mechanically Separated Meat (MSM).

The FSA has developed new guidance to provide support for food businesses following a series of court judgments on the definition of MSM. MSM is obtained by the removal of meat from bones, reducing food waste, and it must be produced in a hygienic and safe way.

The court rulings have implications for MSM production in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, as they have provided clarity on what MSM is, how the definition should be interpreted by food businesses, and how they should apply it to their products.

The court rulings have determined three criteria for the classification of MSM: the use of bones from which the intact muscles have already been detached (or of poultry carcases, to which meat remains attached); the use of methods of mechanical separation to recover that meat; and the loss or modification of the muscle fibre structure of the recovered meat.

Some businesses will be affected by the outcome of these court rulings, and the FSA understands that time may be required for food businesses to adapt their processes and the way they classify products as a result.

The FSA is consulting with consumers, industry, and other stakeholders on how suitable our new guidance is, as well as asking for input on an impact assessment from the businesses that will be affected by the implementation of the guidance. The FSA’s approach to implementing the guidance will be informed by the outcome of the impact assessment, undertaken as part of the consultation.

Defra has confirmed that grant funding for checks for illegal meat imports at Dover will be withdrawn at the end of April, after which it will be up to the Port Health Authority (PHA) to start charging offenders to recover costs.

The information is set out in a letter from biosecurity minister Lord Douglas-Miller to Sir Robert Goodwill, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Efra) committee chairman, responding to a number of questions raised by the committee last month.

In particular, Sir Robert wanted to know if media reports of a planned 70% cut in the funding were true, how many checks were currently being made, and what would be the implications for UK biosecurity from reducing such checks.

In his reply, Lord Douglas-Miller explains that the budget for such spot checks – designed to look out for meat contaminated with African swine fever – was only ever intended as a temporary measure, until such time as the new Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) came into force.

“Once phase two of the BTOM is introduced in April, this transitional grant funding scheme will end as intended,” he said.

Philip Clarke | Farmers Weekly

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Avara Foods has pledged to streamline its business after posting a second successive loss in its annual accounts.

The leading poultry supplier’s latest accounts, for the financial year ended May 2023, showed an increase in turnover to over £1.5bn, but an overall loss of £12.8m after taxation. That represented an improvement of £3.3m on the May 2022 result.

The financial performance reflected a continuing tough trading climate, with new inflation driving costs higher and further depressing underlying demand, according to the company.

Chief executive Andy Dawkins said: “Given the anticipated prevailing economic and market conditions, financial performance for the period is in line with expectations. Avara’s higher turnover has arisen from the inflationary pressure that has been well documented over the period, but this significant rise does not fully offset the total increase in production costs, resulting in an overall loss after taxation.”

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Michael Barker | Poultry News

Vincent ter Beek | Pig Progress

UK Pigmeat export volumes, including offal, fell by 20% last year to 298,000 tonnes, as a result of lower UK production and subdued demand in Asia.

The value of pigmeat shipments fell by a lower proportion, 9% to £570 million, due to higher prices.

Most export categories were down, with fresh and frozen export volumes plummeting by 30% to 130,000t, bacon exports by 21% to 13,400t, although values were only slightly down, and sausages volumes by 12% to 4,600t, as the value of these shipments rose. The exception was processed hams, shoulders and other pieces, which were up by 4% in volume.

Offal shipments were down 8% to 133,000t and accounted for 45% of pigmeat export volumes, the highest share.

Overall red meat exports from the UK in 2023 were worth £1.7 billion, similar to 2022, largely driven by strong demand for UK lamb on international markets.

The total value of red meat shipments to the EU during the period was up 2% on the year at £1.3 billion while volumes fell by 12% on the year.

Sheep meat exports to France, the UK’s largest market, increased by 23% in value to £292 million and 23% in volume on the year to 45,000 tonnes. Beef exports decreased by 15% in volume and 9% in value.

Alistair Driver | Pig World

Discussions about establishing an abattoir on the Isle of Wight are progressing, with representatives of the National Farmers Union set to meet with the Farming Minister this week.

Local MP Bob Seely has arranged the meeting with Farming Minister Mark Spencer following a discussion held between the 2 earlier this year.

NFU members will now meet with the Minister on Wednesday (28th February) to discuss the Island abattoir project.

Mr Seely has said:

“Introducing an abattoir facility on the Island would improve the Island’s economy, ensure animals are treated more humanely, reduce food miles, and provide assurance that meat sold as Isle of Wight meat is from the Island.

“I will be asking Islanders to voice their opinions on the subject. They can either comment on my social media channels or ideally, they can email me with their thoughts.”

Darren Toogood | Island Echo

SAO PAULO : China’s government has opted to not renew a tariff on imports of poultry products from Brazil, the South American nation said on Tuesday.

China hit Brazil with a tariff of between 17.8 per cent and 34.2 per cent in 2019 on its poultry in a bid to prevent “dumping,” an industry term in which a market is flooded with cheaper product from abroad.

More than a dozen Brazilian firms had also signed “price commitments” with the Chinese government to keep prices above a certain level, Brazil’s foreign ministry said in a statement.

“Such measures harmed the competitiveness of Brazilian products in the Chinese market,” the ministry said.

Now, the import tariff on Brazilian poultry has “fallen to zero,” Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on social media network X.

The tariff expired on Feb. 17, according to the ministry.

Reuters | CNA

Farmers in Kent are stationing their tractors in a supermarket car park to protest against cheap imports and “win over” the British public.

Around 20 tractors are parked at Tesco Extra in Whitfield, near Dover, to raise awareness of the threat to food security in the UK, because of the “unfair” treatment of British farmers.

The collective action comes after a group of farmers staged a go-slow protest around the Port of Dover on Friday February 9.

Speaking to FarmingBritain.tv ahead of the protest on Saturday, livestock and potato farmer Jeff Gibson said the single message within their concerns is sustainability.

Mr Gibson said: “British farmers can’t compete with cheap foreign imports and we’re going to be left in a situation where we cannot feed the British public.

“The biggest problem we’re going to face as an industry and the British public in future years is, what happens in the next crisis, what happens in the next Covid, what happens in the next Ukraine war?

“We need to make people realise that food security in this country is really under threat.

Anahita Hossein-Pour | Belfast Telegraph