Giving consumers what they want

Making meat work Meat production is under pressure. Two food chain businesses are turning challenge to opportunity. Charles Abel reports

Jago Pearson of Northern Ireland bacon producer Finnebrogue Artisan

Innovation can give consumers what they want

“We can’t be an industry that just bemoans consumer trends, we’ve got to embrace innovation to answer them.” Jago Pearson INNOVATION is essential and the consumer is king. Ignore that and food production businesses are doomed, according to two food business entrepreneurs determined to profit from changing consumer and society preferences.

Nitrite-free bacon

Tackling a food fear of millions head-on has helped Northern Ireland meat processor Finnebrogue grow from an artisanal food producer, with farming in its pedigree, turning over £3m/annum ten years ago, into an employer of over 500 staff turning over £100m today.

Its tale reverses the 40 year decline in pigmeat sales, which saw the £1bn UK market shrink by £1m/week last year. Embracing consumer fears around nitrite in cured meat and developing an innovative solution was key.

“Consumers are more engaged and in-tune with what we produce and how we do it than at any time in history,” says Jago Pearson, Finnebrogue’s Communications Director. With thousands cutting meat consumption, and millions interested in its nutritional pros and cons, rather than ignore consumer sentiment Finnebrogue embraced it. Fix what’s wrong

“When it comes to meat, we meat producers and processors are in the dock. That’s a very real threat if we sit on our hands. But there is a fabulous opportunity for those who want to innovate and fix what’s wrong.”

Bacon is a prime example. Until recently there was no alternative to using nitrite to preserve and keep bacon pink. But the World Health Organisation’s 2015 landmark study linking nitrites in food with cancer raised consumer awareness. That was turbocharged by subsequent studies suggesting 34,000 bowel cancer cases a year globally could be directly attributed to processed meats, and further studies linking it with mental health and breast cancer.

Whilst nitrites in vegetables are harmless, in processed meats, when cooked, the over-whelming body of evidence is that they cause health problems. Worse still the meat industry’s own work shows nitrite does not prevent, or even control, botulism.

The firm came up with an alternative based on a blend of Mediterranean fruit extracts to keep bacon pink and tasty. Two years later Naked Bacon