IKEA Gourmet Taipei attracts more than 100,000 visitors with disposable income to spend in the restaurants and supermarkets of the Taiwanese capital.

Some 3,500 people crowded the USMEF booths to taste samples of U.S. beef, and news reports on defects in a U.S. beef shipment on April 28 did nothing to dampen enthusiasm. Consumers understand that the problem is a technical matter, not a food safety issue.

“The timing couldn’t be better for promoting short ribs, short plate and chuck flap, as the price of these items is reasonable because the Korean market remains closed for U.S. beef, “ said Alex Sun, USMEF customer service assistant manager. “Consumers in Taiwan love these cuts! They are chewy but tender.”

Tsan Jang Enterprise Co., Ltd., the biggest U.S. pork importer in Taiwan sold barbecue pork ribs and U.S. pork sausages at the USMEF booth to about 5,000 eager consumers in the three days of the trade show.

“U.S. pork is wholesome and tasty. Many consumers bought a few sausages, ate them on-site and came back to us minutes later to buy more to take home,” said Liang Ying-Cheng, general manager of Tsan Jang Enterprise.

USMEF also sponsored a cooking school at the show in which five top chefs demonstrated U.S. beef cuisine. Classes held every 90 minutes in a fully-equipped cooking school taught a total of 448 enthusiastic attendees how to cook the dishes prepared with U.S. beef. Still, many consumers had to be turned away.

The U.S. Meat Export Federation is the trade association responsible for developing international markets for the U.S. red meat industry and is funded by USDA, exporting companies, and the beef, pork, lamb, corn, sorghum and soybean checkoff programs.

ThePigSite News Desk