Nebraska Beef Council Board Member Michele Cutler of Elsie recently traveled Mexico City to attend the first-ever Red Meat Symposium hosted by the U.S. Meat Export Federation.
Cutler said she was interested in participating to experience first hand what the Red Meat Symposium was all about.
“I wanted to see how the producers check-off dollars that we invested towards the event were being utilized,” said Cutler. “The USMEF Red Meat Symposium in Mexico City was the first of its kind. As part of the symposium, a Product Showcase took place, facilitating connections between Mexican importers from the retail, foodservice, and processing sectors with U.S. companies.”
Cutler said this allowed the attendees personally experience U.S. beef and pork products while in Mexico. Additionally, the event featured seminars and keynote speakers who discussed topics relevant to these sectors, such as e-commerce trends and U.S.-Mexico trade policy.
The most interesting thing Cutler experienced was the Wet Meat Market, an open air market that mostly sold beef and pork and all of the variety and cuts of meat that go along with them. Cutler explained that the animals were most likely processed the evening before or the morning of the day of the market.
“It was amazing to see how all parts of the animal are utilized for consumption,” said Cutler. “There are many variety meats that we here in the U.S do not consume, but in Mexico there isn’t anything left for waste!”
She added that 55% of the meat produced in the country is sold through Wet Markets, while the other 45% is sold through retail markets such as Costco, City Market and smaller retail stores. After attending the meat market, the group was bused to another part of the city to tour Costco, Chedraui, and City Market. Cutler said the markets all sold U.S. Beef and it was merchandised as such with USMEF/U.S. Beef or Pork labels on the packages.
Cutler says visiting one of the world’s largest cities and the Red Meat Symposium itself were both very eye-opening experiences that she looks forward to sharing with other producers.
“I learned that we need to let producers know how important it is to keep developing demand for U.S. Beef in Mexico,” said Cutler. “Producers check-off investments are being wisely spent, this symposium was a good example of our check-off dollars at work!”
For more information and to learn more about the Nebraska Beef Council, visit www.nebeef.org.
