Aussie lamb on the menu in the US charcuterie market

COSTCO has jumped on the Aussie lamb bandwagon, with pastrami featuring Australian lamb now on the menu across 73 Costco stores across the southeastern United States.

This comes following a project between Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) and Aussie Select, a company specialising in hand-crafted, modern charcuterie products featuring premium Australian lamb.

The aim of the project was to develop and test a suite of Australian lamb products by Aussie Select to build on the ready to eat and deli meats trend to grow demand in value added Australian lamb in the United States of America.

MLA group manager for science and innovation Michael Lee said American retailers had seen a 154 per cent increase in weekly ready-to-eat or deli meat purchases, but that there were no lamb products

on offer.

“Research indicated that US consumers spent $7.7 billion a year on deli meats, including ready-to-eat or ready-to-heat foods.

“Turkey, pork, chicken and to a lesser extent beef dominate the deli, yet lamb, particularly lamb from Australia, is growing in popularity in the United States.

“American consumers indicated pressures around cooking time and that they have little confidence in cooking lamb.

“As the number one provider of lamb to the US market, the Australian industry has a massive opportunity to break into this market as the first to market ready-to-eat lamb products.”

Despite challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, Aussie Select developed four hand-crafted, modern charcuterie offerings.

They are:

Agave Rosemary Lamb

Tikka Masala Lamb

Lamb Pastrami, and

Lamb Prime Rib

Aussie Select chief executive officer Jaclyn Glatzer said that after multiple rounds of research, Aussie Select met or exceeded market demands for taste, sustainability, innovation, and health and wellness.

“Based on the research, current tonnage projections to meet the demand for Aussie Select show a potential for more than 3,700,000 pounds of exclusively Australian raw product over the next five years.

“We’re thrilled to see Aussie Lamb products rolled out throughout the southeast [Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and Puerto Rico].

“The initial products in the Aussie Select line only scratch the surface; there is exciting growth opportunity for lamb in the ready-to-heat, ready-to-eat and snack-kit categories.”