Bord Bia is launching a series of meat promotional campaigns in China this week aimed at promoting products from Europe as a whole, while also building awareness of Ireland as a source of high-quality, safe and sustainably produced beef, lamb, pork and poultry.

As part of the campaign, Bord Bia held an event in the Chinese capital Beijing on Monday with some of the country’s top chefs to show how Irish meat products can be adapted for Chinese cuisine.

This will be followed by a trade seminar in Shanghai on Wednesday, which will bring together two of Bord Bia’s EU co-funded campaigns: European Beef and Lamb – Ireland, Working with Nature and European Pork and Poultry: Excellence in Food Safety and Quality Assurance.

Reopening of market

The campaigns and meetings between Irish meat processors and the Chinese food industry come in the wake of the reopening of the Chinese food market to Irish beef earlier this year and follows a recent visit of officials from China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs to Ireland on a knowledge transfer programme organised by Bord Bia.

Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Charlie McConalogue TD said: “China is a very important trading partner for the Irish agri-food sector and we look forward to continually strengthening this trading relationship.

"It is fitting that the European Union has selected Ireland to showcase the best meat Europe has to offer, with the two EU campaigns for beef, pork, lamb and poultry.”

Bord Bia’s senior manager EU promotions Declan Fennell said that “given the challenges in recent years with restricted access to China during the pandemic, a large focus of the campaigns will be building new relationships between Irish exporters and local importers and distributors in China”.