IN MARKET GROWING DEMAND MLA research has foundwhile consumers in Meet the meat eaters Singapore want nutritious Meet two Singaporeans who paired wellness and red meat as part of and sustainable options MLA’s ‘Cooking healthy, Eating healthy’ event. when buying red meat, many lack confidence in how to prepare it. In response, MLA’s Singapore office collaborated with World Gourmet Summit 2019 for an event called ‘Cooking healthy, Eating healthy’. The event, held at Open Farm Community – a Singapore restaurant focused on sourcing sustainably produced food – brought together 50 media, social influencers and mothers who often make the decisions for family meals. Image: Mark Chan/Zeng Lin The day began with a yoga session, followed by a cooking demonstration of healthy beef Sarah Pang, Katherine Goh, and lamb dishes developed and presented WTA tennis professional video producer at Sweet by Open Farm Community chefs Oliver Truesdale‑Jutras and Seki Takuma. You describe red meat as ‘super Did anything about the MLA important’ in your diet – why event surprise you? Ellen Rodgers, MLA International Business is that? I was surprised to learn that Manager, Southern Asia, spoke to In an ideal world, I would eat grey‑looking beef is a sign that guests about the sustainability practices a steak for breakfast every it’s vacuum‑packed fresh. People underpinning the Australian red meat morning. The protein kick it usually choose beef according industry. gives me is undeniable. My rate to how red it looks. Otherwise, MLA partnered with Singapore e‑commerce of recovery and strength gains it’s well known that Australian business, The Meat Club, for the event are also much quicker when I meat is raised with care and is and participants heard from founder Amy supplement my training with exported fresh. I was also glad to Bell. The Meat Club provides Singapore consuming quality red meat. learn that red meat does have its consumers with premium‑quality, What did you learn at the event? place in a healthy diet. home‑delivered Australian beef and lamb. I didn’t know MLA had a presence What did you communicate The responses to the day were in Singapore. It’s encouraging to your networks? overwhelmingly positive, with 90% of to know they would set up an We wanted to let our audience attendees describing it as “awesome”. office here to educate consumers know that Australian meat is the around the region. ideal choice, especially if they’re In addition to physical advertisements looking for fresh, hormone‑free distributed via The Meat Club deliveries and Ellen Rodgers highlighted the and antibiotic‑free meat for other channels, social media reach included nutritional value of red meat. their family. Facebook posts to almost 10,000 followers As a professional athlete, I had and 43 Instagram story posts from 40 social some awareness but to have that What should Australian media influencers. The total reach for the knowledge echo out from an producers know about event was around 124,100 views, generating industry expert was fantastic. More Singaporeanconsumers? a media value of approximately $215,000. ■ people need to be aware of this. There’s a growing number of What would you like to eco‑conscious consumers Ellen Rodgers say to Australian beef and who are concerned about E: erodgers@mla.com.au lamb producers? sustainability, and these people Food is such a big part of our are looking at where their food Watch a video of the day here: culture and for a country that comes from. Meat producers youtube.com/watch?v=wirlr_h_ doesn’t have any agricultural need to be more transparent gaA&feature=youtu.be land, we’re aware of the and accountable for their actions constraints around importing if they want the support of the food and ensuring that it remains conscious consumer. fresh. Needless to say, we really Also, while many people know do appreciate the lengths that about the benefits of Australian Australian farmers go to, to meat, some Singapore shoppers provide this quality to us on a are unaware of the differences consistent basis. in quality. I see fresh Australian Connect with Sarah meat as more accessible to @tenniswithsarah higher‑income consumers. ■ @tenniswithsarah besweet.sg 43