,

Alimarket Report September 2020: The poultry sector promotes digitalization

Due to the effects of the COVID19 pandemic, the meat sector is undergoing important changes. And one of them has been the strong progress towards digitalization, which joins the commitments of our sector, such as Sustainability and the Wellbeing encouragesl, as well as the crucial process of Internationalization.

In this report of Alimarket, in which we have participated since Propollo Contributing our vision and experiences, the "state of the art" of the meat sector in Spain is analyzed, including the poultry industry. These are the main conclusions:

  • He "plant-based” has burst onto the scene of the sector, according to the president of ANICE, “digital and technological tools have become fundamental for the meat industry…”. Declarations that are accompanied by a “Digitalization Plan” to make partners aware of the possibilities that technology and digital tools offer to associated companies.
  • Digitalization in the meat sector is still limited. They will undoubtedly have an impact on the structure of the company itself and its relationship with the customer, in addition to an improvement in production, the adaptation of products, greater safety of its products and workers; and, of course, in communication with clients and attracting new ones.
Source: MAP

The increase in digitalization has been confirmed by Provacuno, another of the interprofessional organizations participating in the report. According to those responsible, there have been increases in online sales platforms, in parallel to the feared decrease in consumption by the HORECA sector during this pandemic, and the increase in interest in exports.

“The poultry sector has been developing important investments in the modernization of facilities, access to new sources of renewable energy, application of circular economies or waste management.", Jordi Montfort, Secretary General Propollo

Alimarket

As the report explains, the meat sector, through ANAFRIC and of Provacuno, in a movement that we also support at Propollo, has requested aid for private storage, the opening of public intervention purchases and direct aid to the producing sector, especially to feedlots or in our case, poultry farms.

In foreign trade, COVID has had a notable influence. International fairs have been almost suppressed, as well as travel and gatherings of people. Traditional trade promotion models have undergone a significant change. Digital transformation now plays a new role.

New markets are opened through online audits, as in the case of Thailand. A path is open for new commercial destinations.

Sustainability and animal welfare

Sustainability and well-being, objectives pursued by the sector before the pandemic, continue to play an important role today. From Propollo We explain how “The poultry sector has been developing important investments in the modernization of facilities, access to new sources of renewable energy, application of circular economies or waste management. But it is a global commitment, and therefore it must continue to be encouraged by public administrations, to extend the possibilities of adopting them to as many companies as possible..”

Another of the topics mentioned refers to the Meat Sector Working Group of the Food for Life-Spain Technological Platform (PTF4LS), which proposes promoting and organizing R&D&i processes, creating structures that allow this innovation to be channeled effective and efficiently structure the relationship between the industry and the world of innovation, identifying common interests and market requirements.

Antibiotic-free production, financing opportunities for R&D&i projects and food safety in fermented sausages are some of the new projects that meat companies have embarked on.

The report also indicates that we cannot forget the appearance of processed meat substitutes in the coming years and that they will compete with traditional products. Another challenge that the meat sector will have to face.

,

Interview Beatriz Robles on the TVE program: Knowing how to live

After having seen how the chicks are cared for and pampered at an organic farm in Toledo, the nutritionist Beatriz Robles, author of the book: “Eat safely by eating everything”, he clarifies in his interview with Miriam Moreno, on the program RTVE Knowing How to Live, that eating chicken is a safe food.

As explained, foods of animal origin have stricter hygienic-sanitary conditions and therefore have to meet certain microbiological criteria when cooking them.

Yes, it is safe to eat chicken meat. It cannot be consumed rare or rare, it is a meat that must always be well cooked.

Beatriz Robles, TVE.

 There are some myths or common errors among people who think things like the ones we will see below and which the food technologist completely denies:

  • There are those who think that grilled chicken fillet shrinks in the pan because of the hormones that are supposedly administered or even that it helps them gain weight. Well, Beatriz Robles categorically assures that the use of hormones as a growth factor It is totally prohibited by law for decades and that this legislation is complied with.
  • Likewise, other people believe that chicken skin is unhealthy because things are injected into them that are then retained in the skin and are therefore full of toxins. That is totally false. Fresh meat cannot be injected with additives or brines. If these animals grow so much it is because they are selected to grow so much.
  • Finally, that water in the pan comes from the meat itself, since the 75% in it is water, and when subjected to a heat treatment, the proteins denature, coagulate, etc., and release that water.

Follow the full interview below in this video:

Source at https://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/saber-vivir/como-cocinar-correctamente-pollo/5661316/

, ,

ANALYSIS OF ROASTING CHICKEN IN FACE OF A SUMMER MARKED BY COVID-19

Proximity and delivery establishments (home delivery) as ways to reach Spanish families with a healthy product with an eminent social character.

From the Interprofessional Association of Poultry Farming of Chicken Meat / Propollo, which brings together more than 95% of the poultry sector in Spain, it is analyzed how the rotisserie chicken, a typical Spanish product, closely linked to the seasonality of summer and the influx of international tourists, has adapted to the “new normal”.

Spokesperson: Jordi Montfort, Secretary General of Propollo.

Context of the poultry and broiler chicken sector

  • Before COVID-19, around 46 million chickens were produced each month in Spain, where seasonality dictated the type of product that was demanded in the market. 
  • During the summer months, the HORECA channel, to which 25% of production is usually derived during the rest of the year, redistributes products aimed at communities and restaurants (composed mainly of carcass pieces, fillets and wings), to the well-known as rotisserie chicken, typical of bars, restaurants with terraces, stands at patron saint festivities, either establishments with takeaway food, as well as beach. Although demand also increases in distribution channel In coast. 
  • The demand derived from tourism in coastal areas, where it was also noticeable The arrival of foreign tourists caused this figure to rise.. In total, 52.8 million tourists arrived in Spain each summer, with an average consumption of 500 grams of chicken, which makes a total of 26.4 million Kgs.  
  • About 35 million chickens (the aforementioned 25% from production) were allocated during the 3 summer months to the HORECA channel (more than 49 million Kg).  

How has COVID-19 affected

  • After the first confinement measures were decreed in March and the total closure of the HORECA channel, as well as the absolute paralysis of international and national tourism, producers saw how that 25% of production oriented to this channel completely disappeared, although an important part was already planned for the months of April, May and June.
  • Producers (farms and integrators) have barely had the opportunity to adapt their production to real demand, since they need at least 3 months to do so due to the chicken breeding cycles. 
  • Therefore, a part of the product was already on the farms, and part of this production has had to be kept cold (frozen), although there has been no support from the Administration for this concept, unlike other products such as sheep. , goat, bovine or pig. 

Rotisserie Chicken: product typology & sector distribution

  • The rotisserie chicken corresponds to a specimen of approximately 1.4 kg. To reach the market, this chicken spends an average of 36 days on the farms. 
  • The sales price in establishments is also a very important factor for its acquisition by consumers. It is usually between €8 and €12, depending on the geographical area and type of preparation.   
  • Some of the specialized distributors in the HORECA channel itself have had to adapt your production to other types of products, but this has already been done for the months of July-August-September.
  • The news of deconfinement and possible recovery of domestic tourism has barely allowed producers any room for maneuver to adapt the raising of rotisserie chicken.
  • The most optimistic figures, subject to recent outbreaks and new confinement measures, speak of a lawsuit regarding 7 million copies (a 20% of the usual 35 million).
  • But it is a figure that fluctuates and is also subject to new news regarding the cancellation of international tourism, especially British tourism on the coasts.
  • And also for chicken imports from surplus countries such as Italy or Poland, in addition to the usual ones from Brazil. It is estimated that 15% of chicken consumption in the HORECA channel comes from imports. 

The Spanish restaurant and hospitality industry adapts to new habits 

  • Some of our associates, especially integrators, already chose to participate in previous years in restaurant projects with direct sales, which also made it easier to have establishments selling prepared food throughout the country.
  • This activity is added to that of distribution of rotisserie chicken for restaurant chains, small businesses, bars, beach establishments, hypermarkets selling prepared food dishes, etc.   
  • All of these establishments have seen how an important factor in the new normal has been the Delivery options (home delivery), as well as the proposal of food to pick up in store upon request, including the request sometimes by telephone and other times online.
  • Both restaurant chains and individual establishments opt for this type of service as a way to facilitate access to a prepared meal linked to family or leisure consumption at home.
  • We have detected that this option is also linked not only to coastal sites, but also in large cities like Madrid, Barcelona or Seville. The delivery option allows consumers to have a healthy diet at home, as well as Promote the business of small neighborhood businesses.
  • For some establishments in inland cities, this type of sales strategies and proximity to local customers has meant that the decline in sales may have been less than expected, below the national average. 
  • An interesting option is also being the prepared food spaces of hypermarkets, such as El Corte Inglés, Mercadona or Eroski. Although its adaptation to the new normal remains to be seen.
,

AgroBusiness: Towards the new scenario that we have to redraw

Tribune of Antonio Sánchez, President of Propollo, for the 20th Anniversary Special of AgroNegocios magazine.

20 years ago, when he was born AgroBusiness, many of us face “new challenges for new times” under the headlines of the passing of a century and a millennium. And although some of us are part of a generation that has lived through several transitions, from politics to economics, we had to address a new transition focused on technology and globalization.

Today, everything we had learned, all the challenges we had been overcoming, have become the essential tools to face a new scenario that we have to redraw together due to this crisis. And I want to do it optimistically, but also critically.

I have the honor of representing the poultry sector, which has been an example of this journey of resilience over the years, and which has always responded with responsibility, talent and innovation.

During the toughest moments of the pandemic, many spotlights were pointed at us, aware of our role as an industry supplier of such an essential product in the citizens' basket.

Agribusiness

Millions of birds reached consumers in March thanks to the efforts of thousands of families throughout Spain, who They deserve special recognition, united by an impressive feeling of solidarity.

Today our sector represents an industry recognized for the quality of its products, for the ability of its facilities to adapt to the demanding national and international health regulations, for a logistics network that allows more than 1,600,000 tons of chicken, turkey and other meat to be placed birds anywhere in the national geography.

Our professionals have supported part of this necessary transformation in training, digitalization and the new, more collaborative work formalities. Today we are also a more diverse industry, committed to the environment and energy efficiency, and which proudly displays its policies on animal welfare.

WE ARE ALONE AGAIN

But we face this crisis with some not so positive aspects, although it is up to us to provide the answers. The first point is the correlation between our consideration as an essential activity and economic engine with the support we receive. European and national public administrations have repeatedly postponed solutions for a sector that represents 23% of meat consumption in this country, with a wealth generation of more than 2.3 billion euros annually, and for which The fall of the Horeca and tourism sector can mean losses of more than 600 million euros. And we are alone again, without any help or support.

The second point is found in our ability to export. The quality seal of Spanish chicken will allow us to open new markets, but we are doing so at one of the worst times, with pressure in the form of low-cost prices from countries protected by agreements that are currently out of context. The cohesion and responsibility of the entire distribution and restaurant chain is more necessary than ever to respond not only to the sector, but also to consumers, with what they expect from us: product and service.

But let's get back to the essence of this article: hope. In times like this we make our commitment available to society. We open new spaces to share experiences around a product that is so social and linked to our emotions.

Eating chicken has been linked to our confinement and also to de-escalation. It will be in our backpacks when we resume walks with our children in the countryside, at dinners during a summer as strange as this one, or at the family celebration that we return to after a long time, with a good chicken on the table.

It is linked to our Mediterranean diet, versatile, genuine and at the same time exquisite to be an icon of our most prestigious chefs. Therefore, in addition to congratulating AgroNegocios for this 20th anniversary, I join in a greater celebration. Confidence in facing a new decade in a new normal.

,

Chicken: the basic, cheap, healthy and nutritious meat

It is part of our daily diet and can be the solution to a quick dinner or a very elaborate delicatessen. It is suitable for everything and supports all types of preparations.

Read more