What we heard at MeatEx in Toronto

We spent September 28 and 29 at MeatEx 2022 in Toronto. The show exists to ask where Canada’s meat, poultry and seafood processing goes next — with a particular focus on international trade — and it was our first proper conference floor in a long while.

Who we met

An extended conversation with Benny Nys of Landgeflügel, at the booth hosted by the German trade commission, made the case for Canadian-German trade better than any brochure could. John Baker of Ontario Beef was keen to get the message out that his organization is working closely with producers and processors. Jorge Correa, vice-president of the Canadian Meat Council, gave one of the most informative talks of the show, with statistics on the Canadian animal protein industry spanning nearly two decades. And the Canadian Centre for Food Integrity presented survey results showing that Canadians’ biggest concerns about the meat industry are food safety, animal welfare and climate impacts.

On the technology side, two companies stood out for us: Global Drain Technologies, whose slot drain systems cut sanitation water, chemical use and labour while all but eliminating hazardous splash-back, and Veolia Water Technologies Canada, whose treatment systems are steadily replacing conventional dissolved air flotation.

The question everybody asked

In one form or another, almost every conversation came back to the same place: how does a processor become more sustainable without becoming less competitive? The survey data gave the question weight — safety, welfare and climate are what Canadian consumers say they care about — and the answer on the floor was consistently technology: for product safety, for product quality, for operational efficiency, and for quantifying the environmental footprint so it can actually be reduced.

What surprised us

The show was smaller than it would have been in another year — plenty of people were still reluctant to congregate — and that turned out to be its best feature. We had the undivided attention of company representatives and time for detailed conversations instead of elevator pitches. The organizers made a point we had not fully appreciated: Canada is a significant player in world meat production and, compared with the United States, a far more accessible venue for international visitors.

What we took away

That being in the room matters. Sharing a coffee with a sales rep from an Italian company, shaking hands with an entrepreneur from France — the small things that build lasting relationships do not happen over video calls. We left with new connections among partner companies focused on sustainability, and with the strong impression that the future of protein processing in Canada is bright: the floor was full of companies working to make facilities more competitive and more sustainable at once, which is exactly the intersection where we work.