Ethnic meat markets: China

Abstract

Traditional Chinese meat products (TCMPs) are the representative of Chinese people's rich cultural and culinary heritage. China has developed eight main regional cuisines in a long history with their unique features and flavors. However, these meat products that use traditional processing technologies do not provide consistent quality due to the differences in climate, processing procedures, equipment types, and individual experience. Further improvement in the quality attributes of TCMPs by applying modern meat science and technology in the industrial scale production will thus benefit the trade in these products globally. As for the meat market, pork remains the major species for production and consumption in China. However, the average per capita meat consumption in China is still low compared to the Europe and the USA China will have an increasing demand for meat and meat products in future due to the continuous development of economy and the increase of population.