Reducing Dark Cutting in Gippsland

Summary

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Only graded carcases can be sold under the Gippsland Natural trademark. All ungraded carcases are sold as generic product, and where they are very dark (meat colour 5+) they are difficult to sell as they are generally used for manufacturing. This situation is compounded by the fact that in some times of the year there is an industry surplus of dark-cutting carcases which means that prices are severely depressed. Carcases may be sold at a loss. All pricing, to both the producer and the retailer, is based on carcase grading. The producer with ungraded carcases is disappointed in the returns and the retailer can be put into a situation where there is insufficient graded product to supply retail outlets. Gippsland Natural aimed to work with producers to reduce the incidence of dark-cutting beef through the supply chain of Gippsland Natural (and other MSA brands processing through Radford's abattoirs) and evaluate the efficacy of Nutrimol as a treatment for stock prior to slaughter.