The Dutch Meat Association (COV) announced that it will focus on introducing and marketing this label throughout 2012, Boerderij Vandaag reports. The label should be an addition to branding used by individual slaughterhouses, said Jos Goebbels, COV chairman, speaking at an annual meeting last week.
Marketing is necessary as it is feared that consumers within the European Union as well as outside the EU, fail to recognise Dutch top produce. Future mandatory country of origin labeling could lead to a sales drop, particularly in Germany in France as consumers are thought to be more sympathetic to nationally produced meat.
In addition, the Holland branding should be an answer to similar identical international initiatives, like Danish pork or Canadian beef.
In 2010, total export value of Dutch meat and livestock business was €5.3 billion. Last year, preliminary figures show the country exported 950,000 tonnes of pork, 220,000 tonnes veal, 220,000 tonnes beef and about 24,000 tonnes of lamb and mutton.
Exact meat and livestock sales volume over 2011 is not known as yet. Estimates do not show a substantially different picture than the 2010 figures.
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