Uruguayan consumers

Given the variety of products in the domestic market under the name of ground beef, INAC, in compliance of its product standardization duty, decided to regulate the composition and preparation of ground beef.

By decree 215/006 dated July 2006, the composition, preparation, and handling of ground beef were regulated, together with the physical chemical and microbiological standards it has to meet in order to be sold to consumers, with a view to homogenize  the product and defend consumers.

Likewise, a photographic pattern was prepared with ground beef containing different fat percentages, in order to be placed at butcher shops as a guideline for consumers.

On the other hand, considering there was no solid-based method for the calculation of meat consumption in the domestic market, and therefore, for the calculation of per capita consumption, INAC developed a clear and accessible methodology to calculate meat consumption per capita.

It is important to monitor the operation of the domestic market for two reasons: first, it is an indispensable destination for the economic equation of processing plants, and second, meat is one of the essential products in the Uruguayan consumption basket, so INAC has to promote mechanisms for consumers to have better access to said product in order to contribute to the population's welfare.

According to INAC´s estimates, meat consumption in Uruguay is of about 53 kg per person a year (bone-in), one of the highest numbers in the world, it only being beaten by Argentina´s.

This makes the monitoring of the domestic market consumption to become fundamental with a view to help establishing a public policy that ensures access to animal protein for the greatest number of people.