| This paper provides a brief review of the Irish beef market during the 1990s. It sets out to identify the key factors influencing beef consumption during this period and reviews industry/ government response to consumer needs. A number of factors influencing beef consumption are identified, including: price, safety, eating quality and health. In addition to price competitiveness, industry/government response has focused on safety and quality systems. Safety emerged as an important factor during the 1990s and various traceability, quality assurance schemes and supply chain partnerships were established to reassure the consumer. By the end of the decade such systems are a pre-requisite to market entry and increasingly the focus is on using these systems to... |
