Meat is the most popular Polish export product. Poland does not use genetically modified organisms that help to create a “natural” product image. The Polish pork, veal and beef are the most well sold meat products abroad. The country has also been successfully exporting poultry meat, which is in demand in the Asian markets. Polish goose meat dominates German market.
Moreover, in the coming years Poland plans to increase the volume of investment in the production of meat and increase its sales in other countries.
Traditional sausages
Poland has a long tradition of the production of sausages, smoked meat and other meat products. The magnificent as Polish meat products showed a gradual increase in their exports, which in 2011 was nearly 5.5 times more than in 2003-m to include traditional Polish sausage.
The excellence of Polish meat products is indicated by the gradual increase in their exports, which in 2011 was nearly 5.5 times more than in 2003.
Sausages are concerned to be traditional Polish product. Red meat (especially pork) is primarily used in the production of sausages but more and more sausages are made by smoked products from fowl.
In order to meet the consumers’ expectations, some manufacturers are beginning to specialize in the production of smoked beef. The exclusive flavouring qualities of Polish sausages are due to the special way of manufacturing and processing including salting, smoking, drying, baking, blanching, or maturation, as well as additional spice compositions.
There is a wide variety of sausages in Poland. Among them, we can highlight the sausages called krakowska (a thick, straight, hot-smoked sausage with pepper and garlic), Kielbasa Zywiecka (Beer) Sausage, Hunter’s Sausages – Kabanosy and Kielbasa Myśliwska (a smoked and dried sausage made of pork with a touch of crushed juniper berries). The country has also been producing other types of meat: ham, sirloin, rolls, pork loin, and bacon. In addition, here you can find different pâté, which differs not only in its unique taste but it also has an extraordinary savoir. Smoked meat and other meat products in Poland are produced in a traditional manner, according to old recipes, and using modern technologies and methods of cutting into portions and packaging. High-tech lines, as well as perennial Polish traditions and practices allow processing enterprises to produce meat products possessing different and exceptional qualities, adapted to differentiated consumer demands. It should be noted that the equipment of meat processing plants in Poland belongs to the most modern one in Europe.
Pigs – in the Forefront
Poland is among the largest manufacturers of red meat in EU. In the early twentieth century, Polish producers of live cattle were at the forefront in the field of fattening pigs. Despite the development and growth of farming, over 80% of domestic livestock is raised in individual family farms, where natural fodder (mainly cereals) is used in animal feeding. In addition, the country has favorable conditions for growing beef cattle and potential for development of this industry.
Buyers from the EU, as well as consumers from other regions are becoming increasingly convinced in high quality red meat produced in Poland. In recent years, pork meat is directed approximately in 70 countries on all continents.
Polish Poultry Travelling
Poland also has a centuries – old tradition in breeding and rearing of poultry – chickens, turkeys, geese and ducks. Live bird production is the most intensified direction of livestock production in the country.
Poland is the largest producer of geese in Europe. Perfect meat is obtained from farmed geese in the country but also feathers and down are produced and sought worldwide. Green animal pens, meadows and pastures are provided to these birds. They are fed on a variety of animal fodder, mainly crushed grains. If geese are fattened with traditional Polish oats in the last weeks before slaughter, their meat contains more than 23% protein and 4% fat. Thanks to the advantages of Polish goose meat; more than 95% of it is exported. Another branded Polish product from geese fed with oats is also their fat, which belongs to the category of “healthy fats” in connection with a significant content of unsaturated fatty acids and vitamins.
The merits of Polish poultry meat satisfy an increasing number of foreign consumers. In 2011, the volume of its exports was nearly 4.5 times more than in 2003. In recent years, poultry meat from Poland has been exported approximately in 80 countries in Europe, Africa, Asia and North America. In the first quarter of 2013, about 64.8% of the total poultry production in Poland was destined for the domestic market and the remaining 35.2 per cent were shipped for export. The European Union is currently the largest market for Polish poultry products, importing about 90% of the total external supplies of poultry from Poland. In the period from January to June last year, Poland imported 20 tonnes of poultry. The total sales of poultry meat in the Polish market amounted to 534 thousand tonnes, which demonstrates a growth of 3.7 per cent compared with the same period in 2012.
Moreover, in the second half of 2013, it is expected that the total poultry production in Poland will grow by a further 7 per cent, compared with the figures for the same period of 2012.
In the first half of 2014, The State Institute for Agriculture and Food (IERiGZ) predicted that the production of poultry in the country will increase by a further 7.5% – up to 850 thousand tonnes.
Increase in the consumption of poultry meat in Poland is accompanied by a drop in pork consumption, which remains the most popular types of meat in the country, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics. In 2012, the average consumption of poultry per capita in Poland amounted to 26.1 kg, which is 4.4% higher than in the year 2011; while pork consumption has decreased by 7.8% and the beef is about 23.8%.
If the forecast of experts IERiGZ for 2014 proves correct, the average consumption of poultry in Poland will be 27.5 kg per capita, which is 2% higher than in 2013.
Author Victoria Zagorovskaya, ID ‘Sphere’
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