QMS Research & Development Conference

In times of economic difficulties research and development becomes more important. Prof Morris, of the Institute of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Science at New Zealand's Massey University was the principal conference guest, he outlined production of sheep and beef in New Zealand.

Agriculture, food and forestry industries are the core of NZ economy. They are major determinants of social wellbeing, generate 64% of exports and is the only industry that NZ has sufficient scale, market share and supply chains to be truly competitive in international trade.

The New Zealand Meat Industry is unique in that most is exported ( 82% beef and 92% lamb) International parameters that drive the industry focus on price, market access, food safety and bio security Meat industry generated $NZ5.7 Billion in revenue in 2006-07 (18% of total export receipts). Since 2004/05 profitability has been unacceptably low for both processors and farmers

New Zealand is a significant player supplying 50% of world sheep sheep meat trade and 9% world beef trade. NZ products are valued as disease free, processing is efficient but supply is seasonal and struggle to supply product from July to November.

NZ Sheep numbers have dropped 60m to 36m in 18 years. Dairy Cattle numbers have seen a 66% increase.

Productivity and innovation has yielded a 3.3% annual compound growth rate in primary sector from 1984 – 2007 (compared with forestry at 1.6% and the wider economy) This comes from a 25% increase in lambing percentage, 3.5kg increase in carcass weight, estimated 50 gram/day increase in lamb growth rate, 35% increase in productivity per labour unit. There are now fewer farms but they are bigger.

Chilled now represents 20% of all NZ lamb exports but contributes more in terms of value rather than volume. Most chilled lamb is destined for the EU. 50% total exports of lamb goes to EU and 25% of that goes to the UK.

Where we see the Future. Focus will be on individual sheep production – less sheep or same with increased production. Reducing costs, Farms will be larger, Labour will be difficult to obtain because of urban drift. Outsourcing and contracting will become more common. Compliance costs will increase (environment) – and market access – (ID and traceability) without getting a return for that cost. “Compliance costs offer no payback, but we will have to comply if we are to retain market share. It's something that has to be done regardless of whether you get a return.”

The Future will bring increased emphasis on simpler systems “easy to manage”, systemisation of operations, Specialisation – finishing – breeding – terminal – maternal breeds, out of season or continuous supply and growth emphasis on supply networks

Beef – two categories 65% from suckler herd, 35% friesian bulls; Hereford and Angus are the most prevalent beef breed.

New Zealand produce an estimated 600,00 tonnes of beef (2007 bone-in weight). 82% was exported, 18% was consumed locally. 2.3 million cattle slaughtered – 37% steers/heifers, 27% bulls, 36% cows.

Carcass weights have increased over the year to 318kg average. North America takes 56% of beef exports from NZ. 71% of all beef is processed, 29% in primal beef. Morris discussed efficiency of pasture / feed conversion through to processing, shipping, marketing and retailing.
Turning to the research environment Prof Morris said that historically NZ spent less on innovation than other developed countries. Research expenditure has risen from 0.95% of GDP in 1995 to 1.17% in 2007. Well below OECD average of 2.24 – NZ are in lower third of OECD countries
Business expenditure is at 0.49% of GDP (OECD average is 1.53%) but much of that business expenditure has been on focussed on farm productivity rather than downstream processing.

What of the future of the NZ Lamb and Beef Industry? Integrity and Reputation is paramount. There will be a need to adapt to changing consumer and market expectations. Demand will grow for assurance on a range of attributes – quality, safety, environmental and ethical credentials. “We will have to learn to deal with international trend of environmentally focussed barriers to trade.”

Morris' final message – All successful lamb and beef production systems in New Zealand have a common theme – “profitability is determined by the amount and quality of feed eaten”

Prof Morris closed by reminding everyone of the attributes of lamb and beef

• Naturally high in protein, B vitamins, zinc, iron and relatively low in calories, fat and cholesterol
• When trimmed lamb contains about 8% fat and beef about 4%
• Half of this fat is mono-unsaturated – a type of fat that helps lower blood cholesterol. It also includes Omega 3 and Omega 8 fatty acids in proportions thought to be beneficial to health and associated with a reduced incidence of heart disease.
• Contains up to three times more iron than chicken and pork and up to ten times more iron than white fish

Prof Geoff Sim, Head of Sustainable Livestock Systems Research at Scottish Agricultural College, Edinburgh. He stressed that there is evidence from throughout the world that selective breeding is effective. Using genetics improves productivity but also produces cheaper eggs, poultry, pigmeat and milk. Other advantages can be leaner (healthier) meat and lower greenhouse gases. Conclusion was that there is scope for more effective use of genetics in beef and sheep production; it is vital for assuring future profitability.

Dr Ian Richardson, University of Bristol gave a presentation “Using Science to Improve Quality during processing”.

Cold Shortening
Ideally we would like to cool a carcass as rapidly as possible but rigor can take 10-30h for beef
Toughness can be induced in muscle which is cooled too quickly before rigor mortis is sufficiently advanced.

How to avoid Cold Shortening
Delayed or slow chilling so that temperature is not below 10oC in 10 hours for beef or 7 hours for pork. This is not very good microbiologically or for drip in pork
Accelerate the rate of post-mortem glycolysis – remove glycogen and ATP faster
You can stimulate the muscle to do work, by passing pulses of current through the musculature of a carcass soon after slaughter. This is Electrical Stimulation and has been done in New Zealand for years

Texture of Meat
Tenderness is probably the most important aspect of meat eating quality and is influenced by live animal factors such as breed, age and fatness but post-slaughter changes in ph and temperature can have an overwhelming effect on final tenderness.

Heat Shortening
If you do not chill the carcass and it goes into rigor whilst hot then it will also shorten. This shortening does not generate the same tension as cold shortening and so is not so severe. It will cause toughening and increased drip (i.e. similar conditions to PSE development).

Research proved Dry aged in traditional butchers way was more tender.

A further presentation followed on Video Image Analysis (VIA) for predicting lamb carcass and meat quality in genetic improvement programmes. For VIA two photographs are taken of carcases – one from front, one from side to evaluate the value of the carcass.

VIA systems are able to predict EUROP scores (traditional classification) with sufficient accuracy and better consistency than classifiers, but better for conformation than fatness. It is likely to be used for saleable yield in near future and may lead to further developments in objective grading.

Conclusions
VIA system is an accurate system for the prediction of primal meat yield from various primal cuts from lamb carcass.
VIA system provides additional information that could be used in the selection of terminal sire rams to improve carcass quality.
VIA technology is likely to be used in the near future in UK lamb abattoirs and internationally as part of a value-based marketing system to reward producers for real improvements of carcase quality.

Near infrared spectroscopy (NIR)

Near infrared spectroscopy (NIR) has been shown to predict intramuscular fat accurately.
How accurate is NIR for prediction of meat eating quality in beef? Sensory characteristics for tenderness, juiciness and flavour enable
• Better prediction of carcass yield, fat, meat and bone
• Ability to select premium product on the basis of tenderness.
• Guaranteed tender? Some multiples are guaranteeing tenderness.
• Feedback to producer, data for researchers
• Test production systems, genetics, diet, growth rate, growth check
“If it works it is very exciting.”

A fascinating practical demonstration of visible and Near Infra Red Spectroscopy as a means of estimating tenderness followed. Brian Pack expressed a view that this was all very interesting but the “prize” was to feedback the research to enable producers to bring forward beef with the best eating quality. This would involve identify best breeds, feeding, growth rate etc.

More collection of data is yet required before recommend actions and conclusions can be reached. Handling from farm to death would need would need to be analysed as well.