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Australian Embassy, Austrade promote grassfed beef in the Philippines

Australian Grassfed Beef Caravan Manila2Australian Embassy and Australian Trade (Austrade) have recently held the “Australian Grassfed Beef on the Menu” in the Philippines.

Meat and Livestock Australia, the Victorian State Government and several Filipino restaurants have joined forces to promote Aussie Grassfed beef.

It will run in Manila, Cebu and Davao from 20 June until 20 August.

The Australian ambassador Amanda Gorely invited participants to experience devouring Aussie grassfed beef prepared in different ways.

Inside FMCG attended one of the culinary trails at restaurants such as The True Grill, Blackbird, Green Pastures and City of Dreams: Red Ginger. They created interesting Australian beef dishes to fit the Filipino palate.

“Basically, Australia is the number one supplier of beef in the Philippines in terms of imports. Of all the beef that’s imported in the Philippines comes from Australia,” said Natasha Monks, Austrade trade commissioner in Manila.

“So what we wanted to do is to promote what Australian beef is about, which is the premium Australian grassfed beef. Here in the Philippines, it’s the market dominated by the US. This is about being on the menu, showing different ways to enjoy grassfed beef from Australia.

“The benefits of grassfed beef are it’s low in cholesterol and low in fat so it’s a better option. [The cattle] graze out in the fields. They’re not contained in small pens and fed just to get fatter, to get the fat marbling. There’s a lot of space for them to roam [around].”

About 97 per cent of cattles in Australia are grassfed, which has high levels of Omega 3 fatty acid that’s known to lower blood pressure and reduce the chances of cancer.

We had this promotion back in 2015 and there were only 25 restaurants with 37 outlets participating in Manila. This year it’s a bigger promotion where we have expanded to Cebu and Davao restaurants. We [now] have 35 restaurant brands and 58 outlets participating. We have recruited casual restaurants, fine dining restaurants and buffets,” said Liza Bautista, Austrade senior business development manager.

She said Aussie grassfed beef is flexible when prepared and cooked.

They’re eating grass so they produce a yellow kind of Carotene, which is supposed to be healthier and have better Omega content … so compared to other kinds of beef which has more fat and marbling, this is a leaner type of beef,” said Bautista.

In terms of exports to the Philippines, we are contributing 40 per cent of the total beef imports to the country, we supply to the processing, food service and retail. Australia is followed by Brazil, Ireland and the US.”

Green Pastures chef Robby Goco said his advocacy and Australia’s sustainability are aligned. They cooked dishes using Australian grassfed beef such as David Burger, Meat on Meat Burger, 80/20 Burger and Steak with Potatoes during the culinary trail.

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