Southeast Asia Aussie Meat Academy lifting the bar for red meat education
19 December 2023
Aussie Beef Mates Chef Natt and Chef Roy representing Southeast Asia’s Aussie Meat Academy.
Southeast Asia (SEA) initiatives have been in full swing throughout 2023, with a strong involvement in Aussie Meat Academy activities and tradeshows.
This year, SEA trade partners and businesses have applied a key focus on learning about Australian red meat supply chain, credentials and attributes, and applying the knowledge to grow their business portfolio.
Taking initiative
Through the Aussie Meat Academy initiative, MLA has been able to equip Australian red meat customers with product knowledge, meat-cutting skills, market insights and marketing tools.
In 2023, Aussie Meat Academy seminars across southeast Asia focused on improving distributors and retailers' knowledge around red meat handling, cold chain management and secondary cut utilisation to optimise profit.
Applying those new skills, over 200 culinary students, young chefs and butchers from the SEA region participated in the Aussie Meat Academy butchery and cooking challenge at the recent Food & Hotel tradeshows in Indonesia and Malaysia.
Competitors honed their meat cutting and product innovation skills using secondary cuts such as rump, topside, knuckle and lamb leg.
Ambassador work
The Aussie Beef Mates and Lambassador programs have also continued to attract high-calibre food professionals across SEA, including Thailand Aussie Beef Mate chef and butcher Natt who is well-known in the food circles as Lady Butcher.
In collaboration with Trade and Investment Queensland, Chef Natt along with fellow Beef Mates Chef Itthi and Chef Roy held a butchery masterclass and six-course dinner in Bangkok during September, attracting around 50 distributors, chefs and food media people.
This year, the red meat ambassadors from SEA have conducted more than 30 masterclasses for trade, retail and foodservice combined, raising the profile of Australian beef across SEA.
Tradeshow participation
Recently, MLA participated in Food & Hotel Malaysia supporting four exporters that have recently gained access into the country. At the event, Aussie meat ambassadors from Malaysia retailers Ben’s Independent Grocer and Village Grocer received awards in the Ultimate Young Butcher Challenge. Watch this video to see all the action at Food & Hotel Malaysia.
Malaysia retailers Ben’s Independent Grocer and Village Grocer proudly promoting their award-winning butchers.
In 2024, with Asia’s leading international food and beverage event (Food & Hotel Asia) returning in full swing to Singapore, Aussie Meat Academy participants will also have the opportunity to take part in the event’s first-ever Ultimate Meat Challenge.
More significantly, MLA plans to host more than 30 Australian red meat exporters at the event from 23-26 April 2024.
Rising Australian red meat interest in Vietnam will also take MLA to the Food & Hotel Vietnam event in Ho Chi Minh from 19-21 March 2024.
