Challenge to get sheepmeats into fast, processed foods

Press, 22 June 1984, Page 24

Challenge to get sheepmeats into fast, processed foods

' farmers’ Uomerence

Beef hamburger patties are the most popular fast food in the world today and if fast food establishments were to sell lamb as well as beef there would be an immediate lamb shortage.

Two scientists at Ruakura, Dr Ray Field, and Dr Ray Mawson, have said that sheep meat must be included in the process meats of the future. To survive it would have to compete with other foods and in the long run, the competition would mean

more income for the sheep producer. Dr Field, an American scientist based at Ruakura, and Dr Mawson, of the Meat Industry Research Institute of New Zealand, delivered a paper called “Meat Process-

ing — New Products,” to the Ruakura Farmers Conference. Intensive research to solve problems of fat, boning, connective tissue and to encourage greater use of sheep meat in processed items was long overdue, they said.

“Meat processing or carcase disassembly falls into three categories. One, dividing the carcase into wholesale or retail cuts; two, mincing, slicing, flaking, or chunking the meat; and

three, heat processing to produce ready to serve ground meat products.” In the United States, about 90 per cent of beef and much of the lamb was sold as fresh boxed meat. In New Zealand, about 17 per cent of lamb was boxed and usually exported as frozen, although there was some export of chilled vacuum packed lamb. In the United States, frozen restructured steaks and roasts were also becoming popular. Restructured meat was meat that had been ground, chopped, emulsified, chunked, flaked, sectioned or sliced, then put back together again to form chunks, patties, sticks, slices, dices, chops, steaks or roasts.

Beef, pork and poultry was being flaked and formed into restructured meats containing at least 80 per cent lean

and no more than 20 per cent fat.

The scientists said there was a lot of New Zealand sheep meat that had food service potential. “Food services would profit from the variety that lamb and mutton would add to meals. “The production of cooked and/or cured processed meat products would reduce our dependence on frozen meat trading and open up new markets,” the scientists said. “Because many processed meats have traditionally contained pork, Muslims, Jews and others who will not eat pork for religious reasons, have avoided eating processed meats.” Processing also added value to sheep meats through reduced transportation costs and increased price per kilogram for the finished product.

“We can be sure that if the processing is not done in New Zealand, it will be done elsewhere and the labour input that could have stayed here, will be lost. “It is probable that initially, processing may be less profitable than selling frozen lamb carcases.” In the 1960 s the United

States poultry producer was developing new products

and losing money. Today, poultry was passing pork as the second most popular meat and consumption was continuing to increase. Distinctive characteristics of sheep meat had discouraged enthusiasm for processing it in the past, the scientists said. Recently, a lot of research had been done and it was continuing to overcome the disadvantages. “Sheep fat is particularly undesirable in processed meats which are eaten cold.” “New Zealand manufacturers who use sheep meat in products like salami often add pork fat to improve the fat texture of the product. “This is a strong argument for the producer to provide the processor with lean animals.” There . was also some

promise on the research side and M.1.R.1.N.Z. has been working on two processes for removing fat. Another aspect was the high processing cost per kilogram of boneless meat for sheep compared with pigs or cattle. It was because sheep carcases were small, giving low yield of

meat for the labour expended. Reducing the labour involved in slaughtering and boning of lamb and mutton would make sheep meat processing more desirable economically. M.1.R.1.N.Z. was investigating mechanical boning as a solution to those problems. Commercial producers could also help reduce costs by producing large lean animals. Processing costs per kilogram of meat would be lower for such animals be-

cause of higher yields of meat for the labour expended. Connective tissue in sheep meats was a problem causing products to shrink and lose moisture during cooking. It not only made the product less palatable, it also represented considerable economic loss to the processor. “M.1.R.1.N.Z. has found that removal of this tissue with a desinewing machine markedly improves the processing performance of sheep meats, especially mutton.”

The scientists said interspecies studies had shown that mutton contained more removeable sinew than either beef or pork and lamb contained an amount similar to that in beef. “Sheep connective tissue could be inherently tough because the animals have been bred for multipurpose with as much emphasis being placed on wool production as on meat.” For example, pigs had always been regarded as meat animals and had been genetically improved accordingly.