Time to circle the wagons to defend 'our biltong': prof
Rooibos has made it, as have honeybush tea and Karoo lamb. And according to Professor Melville Saayman, biltong should be the next South African product to be granted trademark protection.
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Saayman, whose research project found that biltong was a multibillion-rand industry, wants the government to copyright the term "biltong" before it is "hijacked" by others, given the delicacy's popularity.
Saayman, the director of the TREES (Tourism Research in Economic Environs and Society) Institute at North-West University, said: "What started off as a way of preserving meat has grown into a valuable industry."
Saayman said he was contacted last year by a British journalist who asked for figures quantifying the value of biltong in the local economy. "I only had figures for venison, and she wanted information on beef biltong as well - it's a growing industry in the UK."
Saayman and his team began a study using a national database of butcheries. Calculations were based on the average sales from 278 outlets, one for each municipality in South Africa. Sales were far higher than anticipated: beef biltong sold at a rate of 10 times that of venison. And the figures were conservative, because biltong sales from supermarkets were not included.
"The combined value of the products was over R2.7-billion. These sorts of figures mean that it is in the national interest of South Africa to protect biltong as a brand."
Last year, after lengthy negotiations, an economic partnership agreement was reached between the Department of Trade and Industry and the EU, giving trademark protection to rooibos and honeybush teas and Karoo lamb.
Saayman's institute will undertake a follow-up study this year.
In the meantime, he hopes his call for trademark protection will "start a conversation".
"The word 'biltong' is used internationally. It's now a global product," he said
Gerhard Schutte, CEO of the Red Meat Producers' Organisation, put the value of the market even higher, and said that, with the growth of the Banting diet, which advocates protein and fat over carbohydrates, biltong sales had soared.
Source: Sunday Times
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