Ambassadors to promote Scotch meat

The importance of the export trade to the overall financial well being of the Scottish livestock sector was stressed yesterday in London where Quality Meat Scotland announced the appointment of four Scotch beef and lamb "ambassadors" to take the positive message of Scotch produced red meat beyond the shores of the UK.

Laurent Vernet, the head of marketing at QMS, said because the export trade tended to be at the top end of the market, it helped keep the overall trade in Scotch beef and lamb strong.

He was pleased that despite the European wide financial recession, demand for Scotch meat seemed to be increasing with reports of additional sales in all the current main markets of France, Italy, and the Netherlands.

But there was now an interest coming from other countries where, up until now, there has been little or no penetration of Scottish red meat. One area, highlighted by Vernet as being ripe for taking some Scotch meat, is the Scandinavian market which up until now has been only interested in cheaper meats such as mutton and cow beef.

"We now have a demand for higher quality meat and this will help kick-start exports to northern Europe," he said. "It will be a small market but, in world terms, we are small-scale exporters so it could be a good market for us to pursue."

Interest in this market has been triggered by the success of Scandinavian chefs in the recent Bocuse d'Or competition held in France in January where the top three awards went to chefs from Scandinavian countries and where the main course in the competition was based on Scotch lamb. The top two chefs in that event were in London yesterday to receive an award from the Princess Royal.

As patron of the Scotch Beef Club, the princess confirmed the appointment of the four new ambassadors for Scottish produced meat. One is Christophe Marguin, the chef proprietor of a Michelin award winning restaurant outside Lyon.

"In a restaurant you want to be sure your customers receive a regular top quality product," said Marguin. "That is why I use Scotch beef and lamb."

Also appointed ambassadors were Pierluigi Portinari from Italy, Cees Helder from the Netherlands and Simon Hulstone, who represented the UK in the 2011 Bocuse d'Or.