MEATUP show brings industry together
Leading suppliers, trade associations, retailers and processors came together to showcase and learn more about some of the latest products and innovations on offer to the meat industry during the two day MEATUP show at The NEC in Birmingham on 2nd and 3rd July.
During the first morning the show was attended by Minister of Agriculture & Food, David Heath MP who tucked into a British bacon butty, courtesy of BPEX - The British Pig Executive. Commenting, the Minister said: "It was a most interesting opportunity to meet with a number of different businesses serving the meat and food processing sectors with some very positive stories to tell."
Four major competitions took place over the two days. On day one Ryan Healy of Geoff Riley's butchers in Rossendale was crowned Britain's Premier Young Butcher and Craig Finch was the overall winner in The Premier Products event. Ryan said: “The win means everything and it shows it’s worth putting all the effort in. I’ve been preparing after and before work for the competition. The key to success is practice, practice, practice. It’s also good at getting the shop’s name out there.”
John Mettrick, president, National Federation of Meat & Food Traders (NFMFT) said: “I think this has been a tremendous training ground for the young butchers who have come here from all over the UK to complete. It just goes to show what skills these young people have. I’m extremely proud to be part of a butchery industry where we’re producing young men and women who can produce products like we’ve seen today.”
Scott Dixon, brand manager, MRC The Flava People said: “It’s the second year we’ve done the show and we’ve really increased our operations just to capture as many of the people coming through from the butchery and the wider trade as possible, we’ve got a pretty good space at this one. It’s all about the cooking and getting people tasting and smelling the products. We’re doing sampling to really create a buzz around the brand."
Marc Wentworth from St Marcus / Biltong Express said: "This is our first time at MEATUP and we’ve had at least six or seven quality leads this morning already. I’ve already put through two very big sales and we’re very happy. We’re a small company but we’re very happy to be here. Our main product that we have is called Biltong. The show hasn’t been that busy but the quality of the leads has been excellent.”
