In what has been a very intense discussion, Argentina tried to change the beef marketing system 31 years ago. It was called a healthy cut and offered a half carcass divided into cuts, a more hygienic and modern way of selling meat. It has never been applied. Brazil made it. And in Uruguay and Paraguay it is also sold in pieces.
The scene is the same these days. The government asks from this Tuesday to new room system. The product has to go for you retail cut into parts not exceeding 32 pounds. And it is proposed as definitive and irreversible. For now, today at 3pm, they receive entities that oppose and threaten shortages.
Among those who defend the measure are exporting refrigerators and slaughterers or consumers who are dedicated to the internal market reject it. For some, a million dollar deal is at stake with consumers being held hostage.
Of the 3.5 million tons of meat, about one million is for export. And the rest for internal consumption. On the side of the slaughterers, they believe that exporters, now that China is buying less and international prices are falling, they try to grow internally and move them away from the business.
“No one is surprised today to drink milk from a sachet or buy frozen meals. So why do we have to continue to accept it passively a transport worker lowers a half carcass to the shoulder? This delays and shows that producers and consumers have not appreciated the issue of food safety and hygiene, and above all how to best perform the task “, he released a Clarione the expert Bernardo Cané, who promotes the new system.
The entities of the field they have not spoken. They explain in a low voice that they fear progress in the export sector and that it is in the interest of the producer to have competition between domestic consumption and export to improve the company’s price. Nor have health authorities or consumer associations been heard. Not even the union of the fleshdespite the ailments that the transport of half-carcasses causes for the workers, a system that has been relegated to African countries.
In turn, for the industry it implies an upgrade of machinery and many lack the resources, they argue. The situation is more serious inside, in Chaco without refrigerator is able to respect the cut.
From the government they are betting on the rationality of retail prices. Currently, they are averaged based on the most expensive cut.
“The current meat distribution system destroys the equivalent of 10% of the property’s value due to misallocation of cuts to butchers, wasted by-products and fake goods. These are inefficiencies that limit the payment to producers ”, was underlined by the specialist Valor Carne.
Source: Clarin
