CMA Value adding workshop - Primal utilisation program

Summary

Background
One of MLA’s key strategic imperatives is to grow demand for red meat and one of the means by which this can be achieved is to develop new products which address unmet customer and consumer needs, thereby increasing sales and profitability. Besides identifying new opportunities for the red meat industry, the program to ‘Develop new products’ aimed to build the capability of the industry to proactively develop such products into the future.
The breaking down of secondary cuts into sub primals and the many ways these cuts can be presented offer a significant opportunity to maximise carcase utilitsation in the red meat industry.  Enhancing the industry’s capability to process primals in ways that maximise use is a key focus of MLA’s value adding program.
Research activities
Over the three years to 2011-12, a series of workshops were held involving beef, veal, sheepmeat and goat processing partners, value adders and retail/QSR operators to showcase alternative cutting lines, cut/cook MSA protocols, plate profiling and applying a combination of science and technology platforms such as Sous Vide, re-heatable packaging and Case Ready packaging to develop new product ideas and value adding capability.