Characterized by the growth of single-person households and growing demand for quality and convenience, the Korean food industry has invested heavily in new product development and has become an innovator in its uses of U.S. pork and beef. The U.S. Meat Export Federation (USMEF) recently brought teams of retail and foodservice customers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region to Korea to study new products and processing techniques that may be applicable to their markets.
“These buyers already had interest in food trends such as Korean barbecue. Korea’s food culture has been popularized in the ASEAN region for the last decade through television, movies, social media and tourist travel,” said Sabrina Yin, USMEF regional director of the ASEAN.
Through market briefings, a barbecue seminar, tours of a meal replacement manufacturer, a meat processing plant and visits to retail and foodservice outlets, USMEF provided an overview of recent market developments with a focus on how U.S. pork and beef is utilized in Korea.
“These buyers are current customers of U.S. red meat. But they need fresh product ideas for the cuts they purchase now and new product ideas using different cuts,” said Yin. “For example, for the U.S. beef cuts that are most common in the ASEAN such as short plate, top blade, short ribs and ribeye, the USMEF Korea office demonstrated new portioning ideas from Korea’s retail and foodservice sectors.”
For U.S. pork, Yin explained that thicker cuts of spareribs (inclusive of the brisket bone portion) and collar butt were demonstrated as a table-top grilling option.
“The teams also studied home meal and restaurant meal replacement products which are very popular in Korea. This market visit was an opportunity for our ASEAN customers to see how these sectors are developing in Korea so they could come up with new plans to meet convenience trends, add value to their product offerings and grow their businesses with U.S. pork and beef,” added Yin.
Funding support was provided by the Beef Checkoff Program, the National Pork Board and USDA’s Regional Agricultural Promotion Program. — USMEF
