V.RMH.0007 - Lamb Co Product Compendium

Summary

Co-products comprise a significant proportion of the returns from animal processing with lamb co-products yet to be fully exploited by the industry in Australia. The Lamb Co-Products Compendium will accompany the current MLA Co-Products Compendium, which is highly skewed towards beef value adding, and will reference existing co-product R&D reports and act as an industry knowledge centre for lamb co-product processing. Further, this Lamb Co-Product compendium will be a resource to share with industry and processors to help users realise the potential value add opportunity space for lamb co-products.

Objectives

Develop a Lamb Co-Products compendium inclusive of past research and development projects undertaken by MLA on behalf of the red meat industry, and other relevant publications for dissemination to wider industry. Included will also be a snapshot market review in selected markets to sense check if there are alternative co-products being merchandised that are not currently produced in Australia. Further, commentary on emerging demand from nutraceuticals and pet foods will be included in the compendium.

Key findings

In many cases, lamb co-products offer more opportunities for innovation and profit than commodity red meat and can provide a valuable competitive advantage for processing plants.

The weight of the co-products can account for over 50% of the sheep carcase.

In general, the highest value can be obtained by packing co-products for edible use. Pet food has the second highest value and rendering is the least value. However, handling and packing costs for edible offal and pet food can make recovery of these items less profitable than rendering outlets.

Benefits to industry

This Lamb Co-Product Compendium will serve as a resource for the red meat industry and processors to help understand the potential value add opportunity space for lamb co-products.

MLA action

The compendium will be published on the MLA website

Future research

MLA will continue to understand the potential markets and value add opportunities for lamb co-products as they evolve.