Sheepmeat product development
Objective
- To develop new premium sheep meat products.
Activities
- Contributed to the Sheep CRC yearling Merino and large lamb grading research project (May 2016) – to enable the potential value of yearling sheepmeat to be realised on the basis of eating quality.
- Conducted a research and development project in collaboration with the MLA Donor Company to develop dry aging for sheepmeat. This included an economic analysis, a market insight study, an experimental program to optimise dry aging, and a consultation process with regulatory authorities.
Outcomes and achievements
- a review of past scientific work in the literature about the effect of sheep age on the eating quality of sheepmeat
- an economic study of yearling production on-farm that established the potential value of yearling sheepmeat to farmers
- sensory evaluation of yearling compared to lamb meat using consumers in China, United States of America (USA) and Australia to prove the value to consumers.