Pork supply for retail, foodservice, processing and import

Start with your buyer type

One page per buyer type: what that buyer specifies, how the packing is configured for it and which documentation comes into play.

• Retail

  Buying to a shelf specification: a target weight band, a defined trim, a repeatable presentation. The pack protects the unit and presents it on shelf. Regulation (EU) 1169/2011 governs food information provided to the final consumer (Article 1(3)), which is where the mandatory particulars of a consumer pack come from.

• Foodservice

  Buying to a piece size a kitchen can portion without reworking it. Bone and rind status matter more than appearance. The case is specified for cold-store handling, and frozen product calls for storage and defrosting guidance alongside the specification.

• Industrial processing

  Buying to a formulation, not an appearance: a lean-to-fat ratio that holds between loads. A receiving plant files analytical, allergen and GMO statements, so send the codes you are evaluating and ask which of those can be issued for each one. Bulk formats — polybag, liner, carton, block frozen — are what a plant intake specifies.

• Importers & distributors

  Buying a container rather than a product line, and reasoning back from the destination: what the market admits, which health certificate model applies, the Combined Nomenclature heading each item is classified under, and the Incoterms 2020 rule in play.

How a supply relationship starts

The sequence below is the usual one in the meat trade, whichever page you arrive from.

1. 01EnquirySend the destination market, the products or codes of interest, the condition required and the volume you work to. Those four points are what a specification and a price are built on.
2. 02SpecificationAsk for the data sheet for the codes you are considering — cut preparation, bone and rind status, condition, format and customs heading — and mark up what has to change for your programme.
3. 03Sample or trial orderA sample or trial order is what lets you check the cut against your own line, your own yield and your own specification. Ask what a sample can cover for the codes you are evaluating.
4. 04QuotationA price only means anything against a defined specification, a packing configuration, an Incoterms 2020 rule and a named destination. Change any of the four and it is a different quotation.
5. 05First shipmentBefore an export consignment leaves, the loading condition, the carton markings and the commercial and official documents the destination requires are fixed against the order. Which documents those are follows from the destination's import rules, not from the product.

What to send to get a useful reply

Six points a pork enquiry turns on. Anything left open has to be settled before a specification and a price can be fixed.

• Destination market and port

  Eligibility, the health certificate model and the label language all follow from where the goods land, so the destination market and port come first.

• Products or codes

  The catalogue is coded. Sending codes instead of descriptions removes a round of translation between your name for a cut and ours.

• Chilled or frozen

  Chilled or frozen governs packing, shelf life, loading and the documentation, so it is the first thing to settle.

• Packing and labelling requirement

  Unit presentation, carton configuration, carton markings and the label information your destination requires: say which of these are fixed and which are open.

• Volume and frequency

  A trial load and a standing weekly programme are different conversations. Say which of the two you are proposing, and at what frequency.

• Incoterms rule

  Which Incoterms 2020 rule you work to. The rules allocate carriage, risk transfer, the delivery point and the customs formalities between seller and buyer; they do not set payment terms.

Where to look next

• The coded catalogue →80 coded specifications in 6 families; 61 listed chilled and 80 frozen.
• Specification library →Search the catalogue by attribute and request the data sheet for a code.
• Packing and labelling →What carton marking and label information a destination requires, and what to pin down when you send a packing requirement.
• Export and logistics →How cold-chain dispatch, container loading, Incoterms rules and destination documentation work, and what each one turns on.