This week, Scotch beef and Scotch lamb occupied a central presence in the meat hall at Anuga, in Germany, the largest food and drink trade show in the world. The show opened on Saturday and ran until Wednesday.

The Scottish stand was operated by QMS, on behalf of Scotland’s meat industry.

The stand featured striking displays of the PGI Scotch beef and lamb products, as well as the specially selected pork brand which is also promoted by QMS. The stand was designed to promote the product and Scotland as a meat-producing country. This was different to many other countries in the meat hall, that had companies exhibiting on the national stand.

However, Scottish meat companies were present and many representatives attended the Scottish reception on the stand, at lunchtime on Tuesday.

ABP, which has a major beef abattoir and cutting plant in Perth, had its own dedicated stand – separate from any of the national stands. The Dawn group, which owns the Highland Meats factory in Saltcoats, was present on the Irish stand. Dunbia, now part of the Dawn group and with its own factories in Elgin and Ayr in Scotland, was based on the Northern Irish stand.

Karro, the Yorkshire headquartered pig processer which handles 45,000 pigs per week, was at the AHDB stand. Karro has a strong link with the northeast of Scotland through its pig breed in programme in Brydock, where the company has 10,500 outdoor sows and won a welfare award from Compassion in World Farming in 2011.

“We are here because we want to represent Scotland and we need to show we are open for business. We need to spread out opportunities for exports around the world,” Laurent Vernet, head of marketing with QMS explained. “I think there is a recession all over the world, even if it is a hidden recession. People who can buy premium steak cuts are present all over the world, but they are in smaller quantities than they used to be. Our market is not one country, it is the market of the people who can buy – independent of the borders.”