The Luxembourg Chamber of Agriculture has reflected on six months of festivities held in honour of Luxembourgish beef.
2024 marks the 30th anniversary of the "Produit du terroir - Lëtzebuerger Rëndfleesch" label. The Chamber of Agriculture is seizing this opportunity to (re)discover the meaning and requirements of the logo affixed to Luxembourgish beef. The chamber recalled that the specifications that determine the label offer "strong and controlled guarantees" in terms of animal welfare, feed quality, transport limitation, traceability, hygiene and maturation.
The festivities began already during this year's Ettelbruck Agricultural Fair with two events intended to bring together stakeholders in the beef sector and to provide it with new outlets. The Chamber of Agriculture and La Provençale also teamed up to offer a new sausage, a 100% pure Luxembourg beef local product, which was marketed exclusively during the fair. The Chamber of Agriculture added that it intends to renew the joint initiative with a new special LUGA (Luxembourg Urban Garden) recipe in 2025.
Moreover, the Chamber of Agriculture worked with KACHEN magazine and twelve Luxembourg chefs to release a recipe booklet featuring local beef. This booklet, initially distributed via the Ettelbruck Agricultural Fair website, will soon be available in most butcher shops that have signed the label.
Next up, for this anniversary, the Chamber of Agriculture has decided to review the information and promotion tools for the label, with a view to launching a new logo and special point-of-sale actions to accompany it.
The Chamber of Agriculture explained that it wanted to give a social dimension to the 30th anniversary of the label by offering 1,500 pure Luxembourg beef sausages to the local non-profit organisation Stëmm vun der Strooss. This association helps people in distress and works to promote the social and professional integration of disadvantaged people.
"The staff of the Chamber of Agriculture put forward the idea that I and the committee immediately supported. Agriculture is a difficult profession that depends on solidarity. Mutual aid is written in our genes," said Christian Hahn, President of the Luxembourg Chamber of Agriculture.
The chamber went on to mention several reasons for buying Luxembourgish beef, for example to support local agriculture that respects the environment and animal welfare - the products of Luxembourg livestock farming do not travel thousands of kilometres before arriving on our plates. Another reason cited was helping to safeguard the know-how of the 950 breeders and 63 signatory butchers by ensuring their existence and giving them the means to produce quality meat.