Meat world’s high tech

Press, 28 January 1986, Page 22

Meat world’s high tech

By

NEILL BIRSS

In Upton Sinclair's novel, “The Jungle” the Chicago meat packers in the early part of the century used every part of a pig but its squeal. Waitaki N.Z. Refrigerating, Ltd, is pursuing the use of all parts of animal carcases so vigorously, it would be no surprise to find the company was planning to package the bleats of the 11M sheep its works slaughter each year. With four scientists and two technicians leading the way, Waitaki is using its subsidiary, Phoenix Chemicals, Ltd, to pioneer high-technology processes to obtain new products from animal carcases.

Mr Lance Smith, the pharmaceuticals manager of Waitaki says that New Zealand is in a perfect position to extract biochemicals from animals. It is one of the few countries that does not feed antibiotics and hormones to its animals. This means animal blood, organs and tissue products can be used for wide purposes.

For example, one cattle-blood extract, bovine serum album, is in demand overseas. New Zealand freezing works typically turn their cattle blood into blood powder, worth about 60c a kilogram. But blood serum album sells for $6OO a kilogram. Of the 7 per ■cent of blood that is solids one-third is BSA. Thus BSA processing increases the return to New Zealand from blood more than 300-fold.

! At Waitaki’s works.

plasma is centHfuged out of animal blood and brought to the Islington works, where the BSA is extracted by the company’s own process. Another pharmaceutical product in big international demand is extracted from the blood of unborn and newly bom calves. This product is used as a growing medium for the new genetically engineered bacteria. Such bacteria are being genetically coded to make many previously animal-based products.

One example is insulin. New Zealand has a great advantage in the production of this bacteria medium, Mr Smith says. It is one of the few countries in the world that does not feed the animals antibiotics or hormones; this has made the Waitaki product highly sought. Another product under investigation by the Waitaki researchers is hormones from sheep glands. Freeze-dried glands are also sold in the healthfood market.

The Waitaki plant at Nelson, is based on a development of the process by an Englishman, Dr Roy Grant, who was seconded to the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research in the 19705. He envisaged the process being used to remove protein from freezing works effluent. The Chemistry Division of the D.S.I.R. developed Dr Grant’s work, and a plant was set up in the Hutt Valley to make resins used in the process.

Dr Grant’s development

on earlier ion-exchange work was to attach groups of ions to the porous resin cellulose to attract proteins and hold them until they could be recovered.. His process was taken up by Tasman Vaccine Laboratories and marketed by Ecotech Systems, but when the laboratories were bought by Dalgety’s Ltd, Ecotech was dissolved.

In the 19705, Waitaki was investigating recovering protein from freezing works wastes using the Ecotech systems. When Ecotech was dissolved Waitaki bought the rights to manufacture the resin, which is the key to the process, from the Development Finance Corporation, which held the patents. Waitaki set up Phoenix Chemicals to develop the process.

Phoenix worked with Massey University scientists to develop the process, which is now producing chemicals. Mr Smith, seconded from N.Z. Pharmaceuticals, was one of the Massey researchers under Dr John Ayers.

The resin is a key part of the ion-exchange process. This material is coated on to special cellulose. Waitaki imports this cellulose from a factory in Swansea, Wales. The New Zealand firm is now re-exporting the cellulose coated with resin for ion exchangers. One customer is across the bay from the cellulose maker, and was once part of the same group.

For Mr Smith, it is a z happy trade. He would not like to see the cellulose, made in New Zealand; it

is a dirty manufacturing process, he says, polluting the environment.

The ion exchange’s cellulose is coated with a positive or negative charge group, depending on the charge of the ion that is to be extracted. In the case of Waitaki’s main ion-exchange product, the enzyme to be extracted has a positive charge, so the resin core of the exchanger is negatively charged. The enzyme, in solution from frozen, flaked tissue, is introduced to the exchange equipment. The chemical sought is absorbed on the column of cellulose while the conpurities are washed out the bottom. A salt solution is then washed over the cellulose, replacing the enzyme which is then extracted.

lon exchanges are used in such processes as extracting proteins from whey, fish plant effluent and fermenting beer; re- . moving the bitter taste from citrus juices or the

colour from beetroot juice (for re-use as a natural colour booster in jams and sauces); purifying hormones and blood proteins.

Mr Smith recently returned from overseas where he found food-pro-cessing industries and enthusiasm about cellulosic ion exchangers. “In Japan, for instance, fish is processed on a large scale and during the processing much valuable material is washed away. This effluent contains a lot of protein and is difficult to get rid of.”

At present the Japanese are using an expensive ultra-filtration process to purify fish plant effluent. lon exchange would be cheaper and could also remove other undesirable components such as urea and salts, Mr Smith says. Phoenix Chemicals won a special prize in the 1985 Air New Zealand Enterprise awards.