Processed meat was of the country’s biggest foreign currency earners before the closure of CSC.

A GLOBAL ban on the trade of mechanically deboned meat (MDM), the main ingredient in processed meat, has crippled local manufacturers of processed meats and sausages.
Imports of MDM, processed mainly from chicken bones, were stopped in March this year following a major meat scandal in Brazil after it was discovered that the South American country was exporting meat products from diseased animals that included chickens and beef.
The scandal involved bribery which saw rotten meat being served in Brazil’s public schools and salmonella-contaminated meat being exported.
The development resulted in the local price of MDM increasing and prices are forecast to continue rising over the next three months.
A meeting of the Meat Processors Association of Zimbabwe (MPAZ) held last month heard that the continued enforcement of the trade in MDM had led to processors scaling down operations and cutting production shifts at meat processing factories.
Members of the MPAZ reported that they were fast running out of MDM stocks, which has thrown the meat processing industry into dire straits, a situation that could collapse the sector, according to a Livestock and Meat Advisory Council Industry update.
At an average wholesale price of $2,70 per kilogram, processed meat products have become one of the cheapest sources of meat protein available to consumers, much cheaper than beef or chicken cuts.
The processed meat industry, which employs 2 550 people with potential to increase the number to 4 250, is currently operating at 60 percent capacity.
“The situation is compounded by a shortage of locally produced ingredients that also go into the production of processed meat, as production of chicken and pork has declined. It is feared that the gains in capacity utilisation and value-addition in an industry that offers a more economical meat option will be lost,” MPAZ members said.
MDM products are sold across the world as a raw material for canned meat and processed meat products such as sausages. It is generally the lowest priced meat product and low grade or bi-products from boneless cuts of more expensive meat products.
Former Cold Storage Company (CSC) general manager, Eddie Cross, said the processed meat was a valuable way of handling meat products that could not be sold in any other form.
“We import the MDM because it is cheap and it helps keep processed meat products affordable, providing a valuable low cost food for the people,” Cross said.
The local meat processing industry has been developed around the importation of three ingredients, which are MDM, casings and seasonings. This has also created a market for locally produced beef and pork trimmings, chicken skins, vegetable proteins, herbs and spices.
All of the MDM used in Zimbabwe and South Africa is imported. South Africa imports approximately 90 percent of its MDM from Brazil.
“It is, therefore, noted with concern that if local production of processed meat products continues to decline through a lack of MDM, this will open the way for the importation of South African products, undercutting local production and further threatening employment and capacity utilisation.
“Economies of scale mean that the manufacture of MDM, the primary ingredient in a wide range of processed meat products, is not viable in Africa. Along with many other importers, Africa with its growing meat processing industry relies on importation of MDM to produce processed meat products for a growing consumer markets,” MPAZ said.
Other abattoir by-products such as fat and trimmings from carcasses feed into a growing meat processing industry manufacturing sausages, cold meats and tinned meats. To improve the flavour of such products, processors include up to 30 percent of MDM.
“Like any other country that is concerned with the safety of its citizens, Zimbabwe had to ban the importation of this product. Most countries reacted by banning meat imports from Brazil,” Agriculture Mechanisation and Irrigation Development deputy minister, Paddy Zhanda, said.
Processed meat was one of the country’s biggest foreign currency earners before the closure of CSC.
Bulawayo’s Super Canners, owned by CSC, was the single biggest exporter accounting for over 70 percent of total export of processed meat to the European Union. It also dominated in corned beef exports.
The State-owned meat processor was the largest meat processor in Africa, handling up to 150 000 tonnes of beef and associated by-products a year.
There has been major investment in meat processing plants and equipment in the last five years by independent players that has led to the industry producing 1 900 tonnes of processed meat products a month worth $5,1 million, with Colcom being the largest meat processor.
Colcom’s markets are largely confined within Zimbabwe, but management has hinted at regional expansion.
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