The Belgian meat sector is alive and kicking. This is proven by the testimony of five young people who recently or somewhat less recently consciously opted for a job in the sector. Despite all the challenges the meat sector faces, they have at first been hesitant but in the meantime have passionately joined the business, which is often family-run for generations.

Belpork, The Belgian standard owner of the BePork quality scheme for pork, has developed an animal welfare standard for the Belgian pork sector.

How do Belgian meat suppliers easily adapt to new markets while creating added value for meat importers?

Annabelle Schreiber is the new Belgian agricultural attaché to China for food safety and sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) related measures.

On 1 January 2021, Belpork vzw launched the renewed BePork quality standard. Liesbet Pluym, the quality assurance adviser and coordinator of the association, explains what people can expect from BePork. 

The World Organisation of Animal Health (OIE) confirmed the ASF-free status in all suidae of Belgium

On 20 November 2020, the European Commission declares Belgium free from ASF. The ASF-free status is expected to be published soon on the OIE website.

The last positive case confirmed on a fresh carcass dates from the 11th of August 2019. Up until the 1st of September 2020, 5352 wild boar have been analysed for ASF, among which 833 have been confirmed positive for African swine fever (ASF).  

The meat sector also has a poor image to handle. How can the sector succeed in convincing the consumer that quality has improved?

Belpork unites all the stakeholders of the pork pillar, from farm to fork, to create added value in Belgian pork. Belpork creates that added value using integrated chain monitoring.

Initiatives in Belgian livestock farming to restrict the use of antibiotics achieve tremendous results. During the Belgian Meat Office Round Table, Prof. dr. Jeroen Dewulf of Ghent University explains the action plan and results.

From 23 to 28 March, the Belgian king and queen made an official state visit to South Korea. Travelling along in their wake were six CEO's from pork producing companies.