Opportunities
Bioactives from Australian sources have enjoyed a renewed interest due to our industry’s clean and green status. In particular, red meat and its associated co-products such as blood, cartilage and organs are an excellent source of many bioactives.
To assist processors take advantage of opportunities for bioactives, MLA's High Value Bioactives Program has been implemented to identify and commercialise high value bioactives.
Opportunities to profit
Traditionally, red meat processing has centred on meat production and to a lesser extent, co-products. But the growing international market for high value bioactives represents a significant opportunity for producers and processors to develop another revenue stream and add profits from existing low value by-product and waste streams.
It also creates an incentive for producers to use genomics to engineer cattle and sheep with specific or increased levels of particular bioactives.
New biological sciences and advances in technology are opening up fresh avenues for value adding through bioactive products, with many still to be fully developed and exploited by the industry in Australia.
The production of high value bioactives will generate new revenue streams that can increase the profitability and viability of red meat processors, as well as earn valuable export dollars.
Market opportunities
To-date, few resources have been devoted to identifying and developing market opportunities for the biochemical constituents of red meat. But these products represent a significant potential revenue stream for the industry going forward.
The market for bioactives derived from red meat co-products is large but is difficult to measure. Currently, the estimated value of the Australian bioactives market is around $300 million per annum. By 2010, this is estimated to grow to $2,000 million per annum.
There are a number of strategic factors creating a significant opportunity for the red meat industry to develop a high value bioactives strategy:
- The transfer of processing technologies from other industries and emerging biotechnology developments, particularly in genomics.
- Advances in separations technologies are making it more economical to extract fractional products through improved yields and lower operating costs.
- The ageing population in wealthy OECD countries is increasingly looking for medically preventative products. Treatment of conditions such as obesity, CVD, diabetes and the growing interest in maintenance of vitality and wellbeing all present potential markets for bioactive products.
High-value bioactives technical advisor
High-Value Bioactive extracts from red meat present an opportunity to add value per head of animal. These compounds can be extracted from a variety of animal tissues though advanced separation techniques such as chromatography.
To ensure the Autralian industry remains competitive, MLA works with a hig-value bioactive technical advisor to monitor developents in the area worldwide (MLA Project A.BIO.0026).
The purpose of the scientific & technical advisor to the high value bioactives research program is to provide technical support to the strategy for high value bioactive extracts from red meat sources. The advisor also provides technical advice in relation to the recovery, extraction and purification of red meat bioactives, as well as quarterly updates on relevant development in downstream processing technologies from around the globe.