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from fast-food outlets. Researchers call these areas“food deserts”. At the same time, the contents ofshoppers’ trolleys come from further and furtheraway. Products come from central warehousesand big abattoirs that supply all the retail branchesin a region or even a whole country. The huge volumesand secure cold chains ensure that the itemsare usually fresh, despite long transport distances.Selling standardized products simplifies advertisingand gives the supermarket chains enormousmarket power, enabling them to dictateprices to their suppliers. At the same time, the supermarketchains compete with each other. Thispushes prices down, and means that locally producedproducts are relegated to particular niches.With the opening of global markets, millions ofsmall-scale retailers have gone under becausethey do not handle the volumes needed to justifysuitable cold rooms or to ensure the continuouscooling of meat, eggs and milk.Price wars and price dumping result in periodicscandals involving meat that is sold past itssell-by date, produced using hormones, or mislabelled.Global supply chains are particularly complexfor processed products. They have resultedin donkey, water buffalo and goat meat endingup on plates instead of beef in South Africa, andhorsemeat being sold as beef in Europe. In India,meat labelled as buffalo in fact came from the illegalslaughter of cattle.In China, the world’s biggest producer andconsumer of meat, pork is the most popular typeof meat. Most pigs are still raised by smallholdersrather than in intensive factory farms, althoughthis is changing and the government is pushinghard for intensive pig-raising. Big abattoirs arestill rare. Most slaughterhouses continue to usemanual or semi-mechanical methods, and hygieneconditions are seldom checked. Many placeslack a functioning cold chain, so most meat is soldto consumers already cooked. But the demand formeat from supermarkets is growing, and it nowaccounts for 10 percent of total meat sales. Suchproducts are seen as “Western” and are growingin popularity because they are cheap and associatedwith freshness, hygiene and comfort.International fast food chains like McDonald’sand Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) open newbranches in China every day: McDonald’s currentlyhas around 1,700 restaurants, and KFC, themarket leader, has announced its 4,500th outlet.Customers are familiar with pledges made bythese chains, ensuring that their suppliers are constantlycertified and monitored. However, eaters’appetites have repeatedly been spoiled by foodscandals. In late 2012 and early 2013, KFC had tograpple with two separate cases of poultry meatcontaminated by antibiotics. Its business fell by10 percent and had still not yet recovered by theautumn of 2013. McDonald’s was pulled into themire: its sales also declined. Retailers must fearconsumers – even in China.Growth in the supermarket fridgesRetail value, 2012/13, million dollars, by countryUSCAMXUSUSARAR ArgentinaAU AustraliaBR BrazilCA CanadaCN China600 +300–599VEBRUKRUUK DE UAFRTRIRNGSAdrinking milk productsUKFRDEDETRready meals (with/without meat)DE GermanyDZ AlgeriaFR FranceID IndonesiaIN India150–2990.1–149RUIRCNchilled processed meatCNcanned/preserved meat productsUSUSMXUScheeseARVEARIR IranMX MexicoNG NigeriaRU RussiaSA Saudi Arabiano growthnegative growthBRBRFRUKDEZAFRDZTRNGIRIRfrozen processed poultryTR TurkeyUA UkraineUK United KingdomINIRRURUCNRUCNIDAUUS USAVE VenezuelaZA South AfricaEuromonitorMEAT ATLAS17