4 The editorial.
Prices are more than VAT. It has been speculated about if the trade shall transfer the lowering of VAT on the prices. Of course the reduction influences the prices, writes chief editor Veli Saarenheimo. Finns use 12,5 % of their costs of living on food what shows that we use 88 % of our income on other things. When we joined EU the price on meat fell 20 % and the price on eggs 48 % during one only night. A couple of years ago we were back at the level of 1995. The consumers are favored by low prices but the prices cannot be lowered forever end ever.
- We cannot shut our eyes to the fact that the prices on raw materials, wages and energy all the time are going up. We must eat also during the recession and our aim is cheap and advantageous food, assures Veli Saarenheimo.

6 Changes in studies at the University.
At Helsinki University one can study meat technology at the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry, Department Food Technology. Yearly 34 new students are accepted and about five students choose yearly masters-levels studies in meat technology. From 2010 there are four institutions at the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry. The Department of Food Technology merges with the Department of Applied Chemistry and Microbiology. Eero Puolanne has since 1984 worked as permanent Professor of Meat Technology at Helsinki University, Department of Food Technology.
- I intend to continue with three teachers but I want to intensify the collaboration with the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Food Hygiene, explains Puolanne. According to Puolanne the cooperation grants safe foodstuffs. The Industry is of the opinion that university studies are essential in order to secure the professional skill and the ability to develop.

9 The meat industry needs academic trained professionals.
Ilkka Mäkelä, Md at Saarioinen and president of the Finnish Meat Trade Association stresses that the meat branch must develop. He wants a centralized education of highest quality.
- The environmental and climate questions should be taken much more into consideration and Tampere would be an ideal university town as the workplaces of the branch are in the vicinity.
Kari Sipilä, Product Development Director at HK-Ruokatalo emphasizes that there is a need for meat experts. According to Sipilä a meat technologist must have work experience from the industry and must understand the meat chain as a whole; primary production, slaughter, deboning, processing, product development and marketing. The economic aspect, environmental questions and packaging must in the future bee taken more into consideration. HK-Ruokatalo wants that the students should practice while studying, get to know the enterprise and take part in the training. Director at Atria, meat technolog Esa Heikkinen is of the opinion that meat technology should be equivalent with other food sciences at the Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry. The professorship of meat technology must preserve and the international cooperation must develop, the students could study at universities abroad. The Finnish meat industry has thanks to acquisitions an important position in Sweden, the Baltic States, Russia and Poland, explains Esa Heikkinen.

12 European Meatpro
is an international meat technological training, comparing extra-specialized skills of meat technology. Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Austria and Hungary take part in the project.
- Quality never is born by a mere chance it is always a result of good training and professional skill, reminds Ari Åkerström, teacher in meat technology at Pori Insitute.
Already at the beginning of the project it was found that in EU there does not exist a common legislation. EU defines only meat, for meat products there are several versions. Raymond Tuominen, former laboratory chief of the Finnish Meat Research Institute, has asked the students to deliver to him the legislation of their countries. On basis of them he will do a summary.

16 The deboners competed in Germany.
The first European championship in deboning took place in August in Germany. 85 professionals from 11 countries entered the contest. There were two series, “Craftmanship” for small entrepreneurs and “Industry” for the industry. During the first phase the participants should, as speedy and faultless as possible, debone three pork shoulder lower halves. During the second phase there were five shoulder lower halves. The participants were anonymous during the judgment. In both series the four best were awarded prizes and the person who won the entire conquest was rewarded a Harley Davidson motorbike. The winner of the “Industry” series Peter Blom from Netherlands won the whole contest and the “Craftmanship” series was won by Dusan Francáled from the Czech Republic. “Aktion Kinderträume” that supports ill and handicapped children arranges the conquest and the profit goes as a whole to the association. Tönniers Fleischwerk, one of the biggest meat entrepreneurs of Germany and the entrepreneur Friedr. DICK, that produces knives and equipment for the meat industry, support the conquest.

19 Finland was well represented at the European championship for deboners.
From Finland took part two deboners from Atria, two from Saarioinen Lihajalostus and two from Rekryt Foodstuff. Even if nobody of them were placed all of them were of the opinion that the conquest was a very positive experience. Orat Oy that imports and serves machinery and equipment for the food industry organized the trip to Germany.
- We import Friedr. Dicks sheath knives, tools and equipment and from them we got information about the conquest that we forwarded to our customers, tells Jarmo Oijennus, sales manager at Orat Oy.

20 The Meat grinder.
At the Checkout they tell you your Climate Balance. In five years the checkout in your market will be able to tell you your climate balance for your purchases and transmit it to your account by your customer card or telephone. A bonus system can be applied to the system. The system wants to help the customers to do environment-friendly choices when making purchases. The table of the month shows the production, consumption, import and export of cattle, pork, lamb, broiler and turkey during the period January-July 2009. “Sausage of the Year”. West Chalk’s product the “Spring griller” was chosen “Sausage of the Year”. Spring onion and bacon gives a mild flavor to the sausage. It is a raw sausage and is sold in the region of Helsinki and Turku. EU puts a brake on the food recommendations of Sweden. The Swedish food authorities have for the consumers drawn up healthy recommendation that promote the environment. The recommendations give priority to season delicacies and locally produced food. The EU commission forbids taking the recommendations into use before 26.11 before it has controlled that the recommendation follow the principle of free mobility. You find the products of Jalostaja in the counters for fresh foodstuffs. The shelf life of the products is only one day and is thus a challenge both for the production and the logistics. Farmos instructs how to wash your hands. This year the swine influenza increases contagious diseases. When washing hands with disinfectants you can avoid infections. A high hygiene in day nurseries and schools could reduce the infections by a third. The eco production is growing in popularity.1997-2008 the value of the sales of eco products in the United States has grown and is today three per cent of the sales of foodstuffs. The Americans buy foremost eco vegetables, dairy products and beverages.

Appointments. Mickael Forsmark has per 1.10. 2009 been appointed Md at Atria Scandinavia and member of the executive group. Senior lecturer Marketta Rinne has from the beginning of October been appointed professor at the unit Animal Production Research at Agrifood Research Finland, an appointment she has stood in for since 2008. Timo Serenius has per 1.11. 2009 been appointed as Development Director at Nodic Genetics Ab. Jaakko Kivinen has per 1.11. 2009 been appointed Administrative Director at the Association of ProAgria Centres. Jussi Juhola has been appointed Md at Arac Consulting Oy that is a subsidiary company of the Association of ProAgria Centres. The recipe of the month: Cabbage-broiler gratin.

24 The directive for fresh meat speeds up the product development of poultry.
In April 2010 the directive for fresh poultry meat comes into force that will increase both the product development and the marketing. Defrosted poultry meat can be sold as prepared which makes it more difficult to export deep-freezed poultry meat to Sweden and the Baltic States. With the directive EU wants to protect the production of poultry meat of its member sates. The deep-freezing has helped the food industry to export and to clear of demand peaks during summer, Eastern and around New Year. Md Jari Leija at HK Ruokatalo tells that the demand on prepared poultry meat is much bigger in other parts of the world and that the consumption will grow by 2-6 per cent next year. The restaurants want that the industry shall deliver to them a ready prepared assortment that is easy to use.
- There is a demand for steaks and minced meat products. During the recession the staff in restaurants is halved and we need new products of broiler, turkey and other birds, stresses Jarmo Vähä-Savo, chef at G.W. Sundman.

26 The climate copes with the meat consumption.
At Agrifood Research Finland MTT they have finished the ConsEnv project that deals with how food charges the environment. Vegetables cultivated in greenhouses charge the environment more than vegetables cultivated out of doors and cattle charges more than pigs and poultry.
- Give priority to season products, avoid long transports and do not throw away food, stresses professor Sirpa Kurppa who has been leading the project.
She explains that those who are anxious about the environment do not need to become vegetarians and she wants to have porridges that only contain Finnish kinds of corn as they least charge the environment.

29 Lapin Liha predicts an increase of deep-frozen meat.
Since 1989 Lapin Liha has produced reindeer products. Today it is also the leading producer of salami. The company exports apart from meat products berries for millions of euros, the turnover is nearly 25 million euro. The founder and Md Jukka Kristo explains the success by the fact that from the first beginning they invested in automation and in a uniform quality. He and sales manager Jukka Vanhala are of the opinion that deep-frozen meat will grow in popularity and become more common.
- Deep-frozen meat minimizes the loss of the shops and improves the keep ability, explains Kristo.
In America 80 per cent of the meat is sold deep-frozen. A profitable investment was the salami line about ten years ago.
- One must take risks and control them. Last May we produced 108 tons salami within three days. We cooperate with the big chains and all our products have been developed from the customer’s desires, explains Vanhala.

32 Finnish foods in the limelight.
The Promotion Program for Finnish Food Culture improves the image of Finnish food. The program is arranged by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and lasts until spring 2011. The target groups are those who decide about catering and all consumers. The program promotes locally produced ecological food, healthy eating habits and food without additives.
- Seven ministries cooperate within the project, tells secretary-general Marja Innanen from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
According to her our food culture is developing all the time, impulses from abroad and the environmental questions make new demands. Considering the global development it should be wise to go back to the cooking of yesterday.
- Our grandmothers prepared food economically, healthy, environment-friendly and using raw materials of the seasons. Today raw materials are so well processed that children and young people often do not know were from they come and how much work has been done to produce for instance a knuckle, stresses Innanen. She is worried by how helpless young people are today. The theme of next year is “A Sustainable Kitchen”. Protector of the campaign, president Tarja Halonen, motivates her choice of locally produced food ”I buy it of selfish reasons – they taste so good“.

35 What shall we eat today?
In three minutes and a half Aki Wahlman presents for the viewers the dish of the day and how it is prepared. He cooks every weekday in the television twenty-five minutes past five. The popular program is two years old and has 300 000, and the revival next day 200 000 viewers. Market planner Sanna Ellimäki at Kesko tells that they want to encourage the consumers to prepare healthy, advantageous and easy food at home. In the program they use recipes of the K- kitchen and notice seasons and holidays.
- We market Kesko Foods Pirkka-products and in the K-trial kitchen we support eco meat and discuss additives. During the winter sports holiday we cook simple dishes for schoolchildren, before First of May we prepare mead and before Christmas we prepare Christmas ham, tells Sanna Ellimäki.

39 On the scene they eat or eat for fun.
The curtain goes up and on scene they have laid a table with ham, salads and pastries. The actors sit down and begin to feast. April Fool! The food is made of plastic, paperboard and other uneatable materials. Cheeses, hams and sausages are bought from a decoration shop. If the actors really eat the food then it is prepared, but the eatable pieces of pie are just so many as the actors eat.
- Everything must look genuine. But I buy crayfish sticks to substitute lobsters in a lobster salad, explains property mistress Marja-Leena Niittymäki.

41 How are they getting on at AGA Oy?
Over 90 per cent of the Finns are daily in contact with the gases of AGA. The most important gases are oxygen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide. The food industry uses the gases in the production of soft drinks, in slaughterhouses, when chilling food and in modified atmosphere packages. The enterprise works in about hundred countries, the personnel is about 50.000, in Finland 350 persons. The turnover was last year 14,8 million euros. The food industry uses modified atmosphere packages to secure the keep ability of foodstuffs. The gases used fulfill the same criteria for safety and trace ability as food.
- About twenty cars already drive in Finland with carbon dioxide based cooling equipment by which the temperature can be adjusted safely and reliable, explains key account manager Peter Himmelroos, who is responsible for the meat branch and greenhouse customers.

44 Index of services

54 The column.
The columnist Sakari Nupponen, editor at the evening paper Ilta-Sanomat, notes that scandals often are short-lived. The scandal concerning counters with fresh food has unfortunately left traces. The customers hesitate foremost at the fish counters. Who gained of the scandal?
- The convenience food industry and the semi-manufactured food, as the consumers of today often don’t know how to prepare raw materials. The service sector and the consumers who like to prepare food themselves were the losers, notes Nupponen.
He is afraid that all service will disappear. But what is good service?
- Local shops, markets or the shopping centers were you certainly get fresh raw materials of high quality, tip-offs about how to prepare delicacies and a friendly service. And the happiest moment is when the diners have enjoyed the food and thank for the meal, concludes Sakari Nupponen.

55 Facts on meat.
Markus Yli-Hemminki from the Finnish Meat Research Institute informs about the quality of meat: the texture of meat, PSE-meat (Pale, Soft, Exudative), DFD-meat (Dark, Firm, Dry), WBC, (the water holding capacity of meat) and the tenderness of meat. From the point of view of prevention of cruelty to animals and in order to maintain the high quality of meat, the animals must be treated extremely well during the transportation to slaughter and the moments before, during and after slaughter.

Translation: Nina Hackman.