U.S. Pork's Quality, Consistency Highlighted at SIAL China

Focusing on the quality, consistency and flavor of U.S. pork, USMEF set up a meat case display and offered tasting samples during SIAL China, one of the country’s largest and most important food trade shows. This year’s edition of SIAL China attracted more than 77,000 importers, retailers, HRI representatives and other food industry professionals to Shanghai for the three-day event. Nearly 3,000 exhibitors were on hand, representing 67 countries. USMEF’s participation was funded by the Pork Checkoff.

Visitors to the SIAL China trade show gather around the USMEF display, which promoted the quality and consistency of U.S. pork

Promoting U.S. pork at events like SIAL China is increasingly important, said Ming Liang, USMEF marketing director.

“Competing countries such as Denmark, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, France and Canada are very aggressive and competition for market share is intensifying,” said Liang. “When China’s domestic pork prices reached new heights this year, more buyers from processing companies began looking around for processing materials. One of our goals at this year’s SIAL show was to expand our contacts with these potential buyers.”

A total of 17 U.S. pork items – including butt, loin, belly and spareribs – were part of the USMEF display at SIAL China. Along with sharing information about the advantages of U.S. pork over competitors’ products, USMEF representatives met with a number of key buyers and provided them with background material detailing the advantages of U.S. pork.

USMEF chefs prepared spareribs, loin and butt, American roasted rib with shichimi, Japanese deep-fried pork chops with avocado sauce and pan-fried pork butt with teriyaki sauce for more than 10,000 visitors wishing to sample U.S. pork. Bags filled with promotional items were given to guests who registered on social media, with more than 1,100 USMEF followers added during the three-day show.