That's according to Australian Intercollegiate Meat Judging (ICMJ) team member Kieran Smith who toured the US in January for a series of training events and competitions.
He took the opportunity to investigate the US supply chain’s response to changing consumer expectations and the emergence of "fake meats" and identify an opportunity for Australian meat exporters, who sell large volumes of beef into the US burger trade, to differentiate their product.
“Recent consumer trends have been skewed towards healthier products, an increasing awareness of the environmental impacts of food, a demand for fresh products, and a growing amount of labelling and branding of products,” Mr Smith’s report states.
“Alternative protein burgers are marketed as being healthier, better for the environment, and produced with a smaller environmental footprint than conventional red meat agricultural enterprises.
“These alternative protein burgers have the potential to affect the demand for Australian lean meat.”
In his post-tour report to industry, Mr Smith stated that despite the US being the world’s largest beef producer – turning out 12.4 million tonnes in 2019 from a national herd of 98.4 million head – it was also one of the biggest importers of beef sourced mostly from Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
“Around two-thirds of beef imported into the US from Australia is 90-95 per cent chemical lean (CL), primarily for use in ground beef products such as burgers, to dilute excess amounts of domestic fatty trim produced by the lot-fed cattle industry,” the report states.
“In a consumer palatability rating study, when 90CL ground beef patties were compared to 80CL ground beef patties in a blind taste test, there was no significant difference found in overall liking of the product.
“Hence, having a leaner burger will likely not affect the overall eating experience, with the addition of the consumer knowing they have made a healthier purchasing decision.
“This could provide an opportunity for the Australian beef industry to export higher quantities of 90-95CL beef to the USA for burger manufacturing.”
This point of difference could be further emphasised with promotion of the fact that grassfed beef has less saturated fat and higher levels of essential omega 3 fatty acids.
“There is a limited capacity for many beef operations within the USA to produce economical viable grassfed products,” he said.
“Therefore, Australia is in a strong position to meet the growing demand for grassfed beef products in the USA.”
The ICMJ US tour was sponsored by Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) and the Australian Meat Processor Corporation (AMPC), and has been undertaken by more than 130 students over 26 years.
