The Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) pavilion at Gulfood will highlight its contribution to the estimated $180 million red meat products’ annual trade between Australia and the Middle East.

Around 22 meat exporters will be part of the MLA pavilion at the event.

According to Lachlan Bowtell, the regional manager of MLA, the international marketing arm of Australian meat and livestock producers, the UAE as a stand alone market ranks second globally only to the USA in terms of Australian lamb products consumption.

“That’s absolutely outstanding considering the vast difference in the population of the two countries and is a clear indication that Australian meat is a coveted commodity for the UAE and the entire Middle East region,” he said.

“The Middle East is the world’s third biggest region in Australian meat consumption with 2009 shipments in excess of 115,000 tonnes. Only Asia and North America import more Australian meat than this region. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan and Kuwait are the best performing markets in absolute figures and trends across the region show strong growth in all product segments.”

“In addition to our stand in the Australian Pavilion, we have sponsored several activities and taken part in the conferences held alongside the show, through highly authoritative papers presented by our experts in the field of food safety.”

This year too, MLA is sponsoring two Gulfood activities, namely, the Salon Culinaire held by Emirates Culinary Guild, and the Dubai 5th International Food Safety Conference.

MLA, which has overseen the leadership of Australian meat products and livestock in the region for over 25 years  has also consistently worked with food safety government authorities in the region to share knowledge of Australia’s most rigorous safety rules and procedures for meat production and ensure the efficiency of local systems.

As an instance, MLA has taken initiative to foster the training of would-be food inspectors from the region in Australia, a training program that has been running for 10 years now.-TradeArabia News Service