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A further 15 per cent of cattle were graded under MSA in
2007–08 – a total of 838,000 head or 27 per cent of the available
domestic production.
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IMPROVING EATING QUALITY
During the year we continued to enhance the Meat Standards Australia (MSA) program with efforts expanding to the northern beef herd – a sector of the industry not well represented in the program. We continued to partner with processors looking to offset the fall in grainfed cattle by using MSA to achieve a quality and consistent product from the grassfed sector. We conducted six producer workshops in partnership with these processors to encourage more than 300 producers to submit grassfed cattle with tropical breed content for grading. This saw the continued increase in numbers of cattle graded through MSA ascend further this year, making the total number of MSA graded cattle 838,256 head or 27 per cent of total available domestic production. The number of brands underpinned by MSA also grew to 38 – up from 34 in 2006–07. Three major processors also became accredited during the year taking the number of processors involved in the program to 35.
We also developed a web-based feedback system offering producers individual carcase performance data. We will continue to focus on the development of an online-based MSA index to allow producers to see where their cattle grade against the benchmark within a regional, state and national context, and offer recommendations for how to lift their ranking.
We commenced the MSA sheepmeat program in July 2007, with 82,000 sheep processed according to MSA sheepmeat requirements during the year. Three processors use the science to underpin their brands and six processors use the established sheepmeat eating quality pathways to reduce variability in their product.
Taking MSA to the world
In conjunction with a number of leading Australian exporters we launched the Eating Quality Assured (EQA) program – the international face of MSA – in three of our major markets – the US, Japan and Korea. The EQA program is a voluntary collaborative program designed to underpin and support individual exporter brands in overseas markets with quality guarantees. We delivered 30 training workshops in-market for 350 importers, wholesalers, retailers and foodservice operators stimulating positive feedback and interest in the branded product.
Uptake of EQA, facilitated by industry collaborative agreements (ICAs) has been positive, with seven major processors participating in the EQA program since its launch in March 2008.
The EQA program resulted from extensive in-market consumer research, with 520,000 beef tasting samples by 75,640 consumers. Its aim was to determine the importance of key beef attributes – tenderness, flavour, juiciness and overall liking – in different overseas markets. We also investigated differences in cooking methods including grilling, roasting, shabu shabu and yakiniku.
Interventions to improve consistency
Our research shows the eating experience of red meat can be significantly improved over the current accepted levels and we are developing a suite of eating quality interventions to accelerate tenderisation and improve eating quality.
Working with industry, we are applying new generation meat electronics to small and medium meat enterprises through the development of much lower cost electronics. We have partnered with 10 sheep and 16 beef, small- to medium- sized processors to demonstrate the effectiveness of the production prototype and validate the eating quality improvements seen in larger enterprises.
‘Boa’ technology, which allows processors to precisely stretch and shape meat into more saleable products, has been modified to extend the range of commercial products it can manipulate. When applied to hot boned meat, eating quality is significantly improved. The technology has been commercially demonstrated with individual lamb leg cuts up to full boneless forequarters, and two existing prototypes have now been trialled in four plants.
A new fast chilling specification delivered to carcase and/or primals in the first two to three hours post-slaughter has shown to achieve rapid and consistent tenderisation. This was unexpected as it is contrary to conventional wisdom and has the potential to improve consistency of product quality.
