Developing High Value Freeze Dried Australian Red Meat Products and Services

Summary

This Research Program’s objective is to identify 3 to 5 fold value adding opportunities for the red meat industry through the application of freeze drying technology.

Red meat products researched and reported on in previous milestones included blood, cubed beef, hides, oesophagi, bile acids and paunch.

The design led approach has highlighted waste hides and the extraction of collagen as the lead opportunity.

This extraction of collagen from hide is the key focus of more detailed investigation, research and development.

Australian meat producers are one of the largest suppliers of salted and wet-blue hides and salted skins to the world market. Australia annually produce 8 million cattle hides, 1 million calf skins and 32 million woolskins1 . Australia is one of the only few countries that has open trade in hides and skins, however farmers still regard these skins and hides as by-products and ‘waste’ so often sell them for whatever the counterparty is willing to buy them for and is then often transformed into leather.

With the assistance of the MLA and the Australian red meat industry, the technology developed by FDI is able to offer a significant value uplift for the waste hides currently being discarded. FDI is capable of being positioned at red meat processing facilities and/or regionally in close proximity to processors due to its energy efficiencies.