Interview with Paulo Cadeia, executive director of TECMEAT

Portugal’s national meat-producing and processing sector can be classified as a strategic and evolving sector, with characteristics that combine tradition, recognized quality, and challenges in terms of innovation, competitiveness, and sustainability. This is how Paulo Cadeia, executive director of TECMEAT, in an interview with iAlimentar magazine, characterizes the sector, and adds that Portugal is known for the production of high-quality meat, especially in the case of pork (including the iconic black pork) or beef through its native breeds. In addition, the executive warns of the need to increase training and continuous qualification in new technological practices as well as to increase innovation and cooperation activities between companies and scientific entities.

What led to the creation of TECMEAT?

The creation of the Agri-Food Competence Center with a focus on the Meat Industry (TECMEAT) is essentially due to two points. The first, resulting from the high concentration of the meat processing industry that exists in the region where TECMEAT is implemented; the second, the vision of the Municipality of Vila Nova de Famalicão to verify that there was no competence center at a regional, and even national, level capable of developing innovation activities and technical and practical training activities specifically oriented to the meat processing industry sector. Thus was born TECMEAT, a private and non-profit association, whose mission is to enhance the increase in competitiveness and innovation of producing and processing companies in the meat sector through its scientific and technological development.

In which areas does it operate? What services do you provide?

Although more broadly, TECMEAT can operate in the entire agri-food sector, its main focus is on the meat sector and its processing. Through its Pilot Unit and its Microbiology Laboratory, TECMEAT can provide a set of services to the industry that includes technical and technological training in a pilot environment, support and consultancy in the development and characterization of new products and new processing techniques, or even in the provision of a wide range of analyses, quality control tests, and trials. In addition to these components, TECMEAT has also acted as a hub for the transfer and demonstration of knowledge to the industry in partnership with new product and process developments obtained from equipment goods companies and suppliers of ingredients and the most diverse consumables.

In which research projects does TECMEAT participate? Are there prospects for new products to enter the market? When?

Currently, TECMEAT participates in three projects of the RRP (Recovery and Resilience Program). He is actively involved in the VIIAFOOD agenda, led by Sonae, where, together with other entities in the scientific system and a company in the meat sector, we have carried out proofs of concept in the development of innovative products in three different lines. In addition to this, we are also involved in two Bioeconomy projects: the RN21 project where we seek to test the behavior of biofilms and the application of rosin resulting from resins from our forestry industry to replace commercial films of fossil origin; and the BE@T Project in which we seek to find industrial symbioses between the by-products of the textile and clothing sector and the by-products of the meat sector. In all three projects, we already have prototypes of new products with promising results and are potentially interesting to enter the market. In addition to these projects in progress, we still have some applications under evaluation with the Association of Limousine Breeders and the Municipality of Fundão in order to provide a set of services in terms of training yield for cutting beef carcasses.

How do you classify the national meat-producing and processing sector?

Portugal’s national meat-producing and processing sector can be classified as a strategic and evolving sector, with characteristics that combine tradition, recognized quality, and challenges in terms of innovation, competitiveness, and sustainability. In these short four years of TECMEAT’s existence and contacts and partnerships already established, I note that there has been an effort to evolve in terms of the adoption of new practices of innovation activities, both in the productive sector and in the manufacturing sector. We all know that, in general, the meat industry is still known to be closed and reluctant to cooperate in the development of new products and processes. However, I have witnessed over the years the effort that these companies are beginning to make to change this paradigm, because they are beginning to realize that their evolution, as well as the possibility of increasing their export quotas, will only be achieved through cooperation, innovation, and above all, the differentiation of products with higher added value. The sector is indeed dominated by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), both in production and processing, which results in fragmentation that can hinder international competitiveness, facing difficulties in competing with large producers in other countries due to the lack of economies of scale and relatively high production costs and more recently the shortage of skilled labour, But it is also true that the sector has great growth potential, as long as it manages to overcome its challenges in terms of innovation, sustainability and competitiveness.

What do you consider to be the strengths (and those to be improved) of the Portuguese meat-producing and processing sector? To what extent can TECMEAT help change the scenario?

Undoubtedly, one of the strong points of the sector is the quality of the meat we produce. Portugal is known for the production of high-quality meats, especially in the case of pork (including the iconic black pork) or beef through its native breeds such as Limusine, Barrosã, Arouquesa, … just to mention a few. Many companies have also invested in modern technology in the slaughter and processing processes, which increases the efficiency and traceability of products. There has also been a growing focus on the automation (and even robotization) of processes and the innovation of some products. In terms of points to improve, we undoubtedly need to increase training and continuous qualification in new technological practices, as well as to increase innovation and cooperation activities between companies and scientific entities. In all these points, TECMEAT is able, both infrastructurally through its Pilot Unit and its Laboratories, as well as to support companies and cooperate with them to increase their competitiveness.

Consumer behavior is changing with the increasing appearance of plant-based products or lab-grown meat. How do you see this phenomenon? Can it put the national meat-producing and processing sector at risk?

The emergence of plant-based products is a trend that reflects the need to respond to growing consumption and changes in consumer behavior, especially in relation to concerns about health, sustainability, and animal welfare. However, I believe that this phenomenon does not necessarily put the national meat-producing and processing sector at risk, but rather invites it to adapt and evolve. Plant-based will always be a complementary way to meat, serving on the one hand a niche market with specific requirements, responding to consumers concerned with sustainability and environmental footprint, but on the other hand, and above all, the one that I consider to be more promising, a complementary way of responding to the growth of meat consumption. With humanity continuously growing as well as meat consumption, it is predicted that in the medium term, there will be no meat available to meet the needs of the world’s population, and only those with high purchasing power will be able to afford it. Plant-based can undoubtedly provide an answer here, but meat itself will certainly continue to play a central role in feeding humanity, and the producing and processing sector will play its role.

What are the sector’s prospects for 2025?

The outlook for the meat processing industry sector in Portugal by 2025 reflects a number of global trends that could shape the future of the sector. The increased pressure on sustainability and reducing environmental impact, with the increase in both consumer and European regulations, will undoubtedly be a growing trend. The adoption of circular economy practices, such as the use of by-products for new purposes (biofuels, animal feed, fertilizers), or even the issue of industrial symbioses, is expected to continue to grow. Animal welfare will bring more and more pressure for new regulations on transport, slaughter, and transparency in production chains. The need to adopt new technologies and implement digitalization of chains to increase efficiency and reduce waste will be a point of differentiation, and last but not least, the change in consumption patterns through the increase in demand for healthier meats (with fewer additives), more transparent, and more ethical. In summary, by 2025, the meat processing sector in Portugal is expected to evolve, driven by technological innovations, environmental concerns, consumer demands for greater transparency, and expansion into international markets, and the companies that best adapt to these changes will undoubtedly have a prominent position.

TECMEAT will hold MEAT MEETINGS’ 24. What are the perspectives and topics addressed?

With the completion of the implementation of the TECMEAT project infrastructure at the end of 2022, we considered that there were conditions to hold a conference every two years, completely focused on the meat sector, in which it would be possible to disseminate innovative products and technologies. The 1st edition was successfully held in September 2022, with more than 150 participants, and in 2024, we are organizing the 2nd conference with two panels: Sustainability and Digitalization. These two themes are indeed global concerns in any industry at an international level, and we believe that the speakers we have been able to gather will provide the audience with diverse knowledge as well as developments and solutions obtained, to generate new potential for cooperation. Our prospects are in fact quite optimistic and we have reasons to be, not least because the number of registrants has been growing from week to week, a considerable part of which belong to companies in the meat processing industry.

What results do you expect to come out of the event?

The main result we expect is, in fact, to have networking with results, results in terms of increasing cooperation between companies and institutions such as TECMEAT, results in terms of catalyzing innovation activities, but above all, and it turns out to be the most important, audience satisfaction. The audience is satisfied and especially the meat processing industry, it is a sign that we are fulfilling our mission and desire for us to start outlining MEAT MEETINGS’ 26.

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