Australia is well positioned to counter fake meat claims, Meat and Livestock Australia says

National meat language means Australia is well placed to counter the “huge risk” of alternative protein.

Return serve: The benefits and sustainability of Australia’s red-meat industry must be promoted to counter alternative protein, Meat and Livestock Australia says.

THE fake meat phenomenon may be a “huge risk” to Australia’s billion-dollar livestock industry, but national meat language means producers are well positioned to counter false claims.

That was the message from Meat and Livestock Australia producer consultation and adoption general manager Michael Crowley at a Meat Standards Australia producer forum in Lancefield last week.

Mr Crowley said the growth of alternative protein products, especially those being advertised as “meat-free meat”, presented a significant challenge for the red-meat industry.

“That is a huge risk for us and we are seeing a similar trend in other parts of the world,” he said. “Europe and the US, being major suppliers of beef, are going down the same path of protecting what you can call meat.”

Mr Crowley said Australia had an advantage through its definitive Food Standards Australia and AusMeat language “about what beef and lamb and goat and mutton are”.

He said even if the term meat could be protected, the livestock industry needed to further differentiate itself from producers of alternative protein products by better selling messages around sustainability, animal welfare and eating quality.

Lachie Graham, of Argyle Prestige Meats paddock-to-plate business, said the ingredients of the alternative protein needed to be highlighted.

“I don’t think the consumers realise the quality of the food they are buying,” he said.

Frank Correnti, executive chef of the Norman Hotel in Brisbane, said consumers were seeking as much information about the food and the way it was produced, but only up to a certain point.

“There is a definite advantage of full traceability back to the animal,” Mr Correnti said.

“We are looking at how much more information can we give consumers, but we’ve only got a menu that is two pages so there is only so much information we can provide so we are looking at other media alternatives.”

Mr Correnti said images and videos, however, could be a deterrent for consumers with “a soft heart”.

He said his restaurant recently bought a champion animal from the Royal Brisbane Ekka Show named Mars Bar and the plan was to advertise this fact on the menu.

“But the consensus was in our meetings that people would get too soft when it came to purchasing a piece of its steak,” he said. “It would probably be a minority, but as a restaurant would that be a risk we were willing to take … probably not 100 per cent.”