Minister Demir countered in open letter

A few statements and tweets from Environment Minister Zuhal Demir made the agri-food sector crawl into the pen. In an open letter, the sector provided the correct figures and information about meat production in Flanders to avoid further polarising the social debate.

Factual inaccuracies

"Flanders breeds and exports more than twice the number of pigs it eats itself. We don't even get them all exported." With this tweet, Minister Demir caused a lot of displeasure among farmers' union and the Landsbond der Beenhouwers (National Union of Agricultural Producers), among others, in early July. Together they wrote an open letter in which the agri-food sector regrets that the Minister of Environment spreads such factual inaccuracies and thus causes unnecessary polarisation.

Production is the answer to market demand

With her statements, Minister Demir insinuated among others that Flanders could be self-sufficient in meat production and that production could therefore easily be reduced. This is too short-sighted for the sector, since the current production meets a specific market demand in Europe. Flemish meat is chosen precisely because of its quality, experience and proximity to the EU. If the livestock were to shrink, Flanders would no longer be able to meet the demand of foreign markets.

From head to tail

Export also makes it possible to valorise all parts of the animals. Abroad, 'less noble parts' of the carcass are also processed into end products. Cosmetics, for example, or sweets, animal feed or medical implants. Because of the processing from head to tail, food waste in the sector is therefore negligible. Minister Demir's figures on meat production, export and consumption therefore deserve some qualification.

Sustainable production

In the open letter, the agro-food sector also states that it is better to satisfy the local European demand with meat produced in Flanders than with foreign meat of inferior quality. Indeed, Flanders is one of the best students in the class when it comes to efficiency, sustainability, limiting CO2 emissions and water consumption. This is also evident from the sustainability monitor that Belbeef recently presented.