Burning issues of meat industry at the congress at EXPOCENTRE

The conference programme of the Agroprodmash 2023 international exhibition featured the 13th International Meat Congress organised by the Gorbatov Federal Research Center for Food Systems of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) in cooperation with EXPOCENTRE AO. The congress discussed the most burning issues that meat industry enterprises have to face.

Deputy Director for Scientific Work at the Gorbatov Federal Research Centre for Food Systems of RAS, Professor, and Doctor of Engineering Anastasia Semyonova set the general high tone of the discussion. Her report was devoted to the current challenges of meat industry development.

The speaker drew the attention of the conference participants to the big changes taking place in the world. Population growth inevitably leads to increase in food demand. By 2050, it may increase by 56-62% according to different estimates. Therefore, the amount of agricultural land per person will change.

“Researchers,” said Anastasia Semyonova, “when they discuss these problems, mostly look positively into the future. Firstly, the food industry is expected to evolve. The transition to the production of food with increased nutritional value is predicted, while preserving biodiversity, reducing resource consumption and environmental impact.”

It is interesting that the meat industry today is indeed showing a great potential for reducing its harmful environmental impact. Animal breeders have proven that the choice of feed determines the amount of CO2, greenhouse gas emissions. It is possible to feed animals in such a way that these emissions are virtually eliminated.

Another important aspect of looking positively into the future is upgrading of processing technologies for smarter food handling through introduction of innovative strategies and machine samples.

Anastasia Semyonova focused on the fourth industrial revolution in relation to the food industry. According to her, a vivid example of Industry 4.0 was the recently built Cherkizovo Group facility in Kashira.

“In the context of global challenges that we have today,” stated the representative of the industry science, “the meat industry also has four global current problems. Firstly, it is ensuring the safety of meat products. Secondly, it is ensuring quality control of meat products. The third problem is ensuring the competitiveness of meat products in the food market. And the fourth problem is progress in the production of alternative food products designed to compete with animal products. By the way, there are expert opinions on meat that in the near future alternative products should occupy more than 20% of the market volume.”

Anastasia Semyonova dwelt in detail on each of the problems faced by the domestic meat industry and introduced the conference participants to a number of speakers who headed separate areas of research at the Gorbatov Federal Research Centre for Food Systems.

The presentations of CEOs and researchers of the laboratories of the Institute covered the topics of microbiological control of food products, methods of detecting residues of undeclared ingredients, innovative approaches to the production of meat products for children, new trends in the products for a ‘warm’ shelf, comparative qualities of products from different types of meat and poultry, as well as many other things that aroused the keen interest in the participants and visitors to the Agroprodmash 2023 international exhibition.

Press Service, EXPOCENTRE AO