KEY POINTS:
Attempts at restructuring the meat industry have come and gone like a No 9 bus in the last year or two - mergers and initiatives were launched with fanfare and great hope only to be consigned to the dustbin with a loud raspberry.
In November, the global economic crisis derailed plans by NZX-listed rural services business PGG Wrightson to buy half of Dunedin-based meat processor co-operative Silver Fern Farms for $220 million.
PGG had been unable to finalise bank credits, missed its first instalment and eventually Silver Fern Farms had to pull the plug.
Resolutions by the Meat Industry Action Group seeking support for a single farmer-owned co-operative and to force Silver Fern Farms and Southland-based rival co-operative Alliance Group to work together were binned in September when Alliance shareholders voted down the proposals.
A Meat & Wool New Zealand taskforce set up to develop a sector strategy headed by TVNZ chairman Sir John Anderson was shut down in June because it lacked consent.
Before that, in April, a mega merger proposed by Alliance expected to involve five companies collapsed amid acrimony and recrimination.
And in 2007 Alliance turned down an opportunity to merge with Silver Fern Farms.
So you might be forgiven for thinking the key industry players might choose to take a breather from co-operation in 2009 and keep to themselves.
But it appears not.
Meat & Wool, Alliance, Silver Fern Farms and fellow exporter Anzco Foods have joined forces for the Emerging Markets Project, which follows on from research undertaken by the parties last year.
The initial research showed China held the most immediate opportunity after possibilities were identified for lamb in the emerging markets of Russia, India, China and Eastern Europe.
New Zealand exported 30,402 tonnes of sheep meat to China in the year ended September 30 worth $79.1 million and 474 tonnes of beef worth $1.2 million (not including offal).
Meat & Wool New Zealand chief executive Dr Scott Champion says: "For some time, China has been a significant market, particularly for lower value sheepmeat items.
"However, there has not been a collective approach as to how the high-value Asian market could be developed, so the initiation of this project is a very significant step for the wider industry as it seeks to build new market opportunities for the future."
The project will be partly funded by New Zealand Trade & Enterprise, with an evaluation and market audit expected to be completed by May.
"The market audit will include a more detailed study of the red meat market in China," Champion says.
"We anticipate that it will identify the geographic focus, confirm the market potential, and identify several strategies for delivering benefit back to the New Zealand farmer," he says.
With a population of more than 1.3 billion people, according to the CIA World Factbook, and an economy with a gross domestic product estimated at US$7.8 trillion ($14.7 trillion) in 2008 it is a pretty safe bet that China is a large and valuable market.
And let's not forget New Zealand signed a landmark free-trade agreement with China in April last year.
Alliance chief executive Grant Cuff says the fact the three companies, Meat & Wool and Trade & Enterprise are working together on the project and putting up money suggests it is seen as important.
Red meat consumption in China has grown rapidly during the last few years, he says
"The time is right for our much more expensive product ... to look at a more organised entry into the market," Cuff says.
Meanwhile, the Meat Industry Association gives meat companies the ability to look at industry wide issues and has worked well for many years, he says.
"I wouldn't read too much into it [market co-operation] ... these things do happen; they happen when the circumstance are right."
Past clashes, failed initiatives and grumbling aside, business, it appears, is still business.
Milky findings
Anyone hoping that a study by the European Food Safety Authority would settle once and for all the argument surrounding the safety of A1 and A2 milk will be disappointed with the report's release last week.
The A1 beta-casein gene is carried by about half of New Zealand cows and has been linked by some people to heart disease, diabetes and schizophrenia.
The science and arguments relating to A1 and A2 milk has led to disputes and investigations, including a study here in 2004 which university professor Keith Woodford in October 2007 accused of having an outcome predetermined by our Food Safety Authority. Woodford said the authority changed the outcome to one of certainty and then took an approach of sustained misinformation.
The authority said it would commission an independent review of its risk management framework and the science behind the debate.
Last April, a report by Swedish scientist Stuart Slorach was critical of the authority for its handling of the 2004 review but praised its handling of other food safety issues.
In February 2008 the then Food Safety Minister Lianne Dalziel said the European decision to hold a review meant it was no longer necessary for the New Zealand Food Safety Authority to commission a scientific study.
Depending how you interpret last week's European report, that may or may not still be the case.
Dr Andrew Clarke, chief strategic and scientific officer at A2 Corporation - which owns and licenses intellectual property for identifying cows, producing and marketing milk with the A2 beta-casein protein - says he is pleased with the report and agrees that more data is needed.
The European Authority identifies that further data is required to quantify or determine risk and thus no recommendations can be made in regard to calculating risk assessment, the company says.
"Such research will not only provide the data required to proceed with analysis and risk assessment, but will serve to identify segments of populations to which it is relevant," Clarke says.
The conclusion to the report includes statements that some ecological studies linking BCM7 (a peptide sequence present in milk protein Beta-casein) to insulin dependent diabetes mellitus could not provide a proper base to demonstrate a cause and effect relationship.
It said there was no strong evidence for a link between the consumption of B-casein A1 and an increased risk for cardiovascular disease.
"Based on the present review of available scientific literature, a cause-effect relationship between the oral intake of BCM7 or related peptides and aetiology or course of any suggested non-communicable diseases cannot be established," the report said. "Consequently, a formal EFSA risk assessment of food-derived peptides is not recommended."
However, A2's Clarke says it may not have found strong evidence of a link to cardio-vascular disease but the European Authority still found evidence.
"When you see statements out there [saying], 'No link found or there is no link', that's actually a misrepresentation," Clarke says.
"There's a link there - how strong it is is up for debate.
"What needs to be done from here? More research."
A spokesman for Food Safety Minister Kate Wilkinson says the minster will be briefed on the European report today and seek advice on the next step.
It would appear the argument is still far from over.
