Meat Consistency Is An Important Concern!
by Daryl Holle
Our phone has been ringing a lot these days with comments about the variances people are noticing in the taste, smell, tenderness, and appearance of Ostrich and Emu meat. The comments are coming from chefs, meat brokers, meat processors and customers. As the Ratite industry approaches a rapidly growing meat market in 1997, it is important for all ranchers to realize that only THEY have control of the meat quality on birds being raised for the meat market. As with other livestock species, adequate nutrition to encourage fast weight gains and strong muscling is the determining factor for high quality meat and consumer acceptance.
The Beef, Pork, Chicken and Turkey industries have known for a long time that nutrition has a direct affect on flavor, odor, tenderness, appearance, and overall customer acceptance of their products. A good example of this is the chicken egg. When the nutritional ration of the laying hen is balanced for ultimate egg production, the yolk of the egg becomes very pale. Cooks, chefs and homemakers want a bright yellow yolk when they break the egg in the pan. Therefore, special ingredients are added to the feed, such as marigold flower meal or corn by-products, to bring the color of the yolk back to the preferred level of customer acceptance.
Another good example is Beef sold in the supermarket. The Beef people know that consumers will usually pick the brightest red meat package if there is a choice. The dark red meat is not attractive to the consumer as it appears to have been in the package for a long period of time. To help with this problem, premium beef prices are being paid to some ranchers who feed high levels of Vitamin A and Vitamin E. These vitamins act as antioxidants which will keep the meat in the package a bright red and extend the shelf life of the meat. The highest grade beef, which is achieved with excellent nutrition, usually goes to the better restaurants and at a higher price, of course. If you’ve ever bought a steak at the supermarket that was tough, bad tasting, and almost inedible, it was from a carcass that was probably grass fed with little mineral and vitamin fortification in the diet.
What can we learn from this as Ostrich, Emu, and Rhea meat producers? Many ranchers are under the misconception of feeding their slaughter birds as cheaply as possible these days without any regard for the quality of the final meat product. This trend is being noticed by the professional meat people. Meat brokers are saying that some carcasses have a strong metallic taste and the meat is so dark red it is almost black. Ratites have a unique metabolism about them which includes a normally high level of Iron in their bloodstream. Some diets formulated by ranchers and feed companies contain additional high levels of Iron caused by incorrect ingredient selections. When the diet is high in Iron, along with a normally high level of Iron in the blood, the meat will be a very dark red. It can be so severe as to cause the metallic taste when the meat is cooked–similar to “Liver”. Liver is high in Iron and that is why it tastes the way it does. All these negatives are brought about by inadequate and “improvised” rancher feeding programs. It also happens to commercial feeding diets when the manufacturer does not understand the unique requirements of the Ratite diet.
Another cause of high Iron levels is birds eating dirt containing high levels of Iron. Birds eating dirt can be caused by a poor nutritional diet or pens being too small. Birds with the “bored syndrome” will sometimes eat the rust off metal pipe posts. The rust is Iron Oxide which is a concentrated source of Iron they do NOT need. A balanced diet, that has been carefully thought out, will correct most of these Ratite idiosyncrasies.
Meat processors and meat brokers are also noticing that some carcasses have cuts that vary in color from muscle to muscle on the same carcass. Some muscles are dark red and some are nearly pink in color. This causes a problem with ground meat as it will be multi-colored and suggests some other type of meat (like chicken or turkey) was mixed with the meat when it really wasn’t. Multi-colored muscle meat from the same carcass is a strong indication of a poor nutritional diet while the bird was being raised. It can be caused by inadequate levels of Calcium, Phosphorus and the major Vitamins A, and D. Multi-colored muscles are sometimes referred to as “white muscle disease” in other livestock species. However, it is actually a nutritional deficiency and not a disease. White muscle disease is usually caused by inadequate levels of Vitamin E and Selenium.
The best meat that consumers are really enjoying is from birds that were raised for the fastest weight gains in the shortest period of time. Meat from these birds has good coloring, great flavor, pleasant odor, is very tender, and has an acceptable moisture content after cooking. To achieve this type of meat product requires a diet formula containing good levels of minerals, trace minerals, vitamins and feed ingredients that are geared to fast muscle growth and development. Feeding these birds just Alfalfa or grazing them on grass with little or no supplementation will result in slow weight gains and poor quality meat products.
I have a perfect example of how important nutrition is to meat quality. Last week, my wife took the “inside drum” muscle from an Ostrich and cooked it as a roast in the oven. I asked her to cook it well done–all the way through, to see if it would be a tough chewing piece of meat. Normally, the “inside drum” is a tougher piece of meat than a prime cut would be–especially if cooked “well done”. To my surprise, this meat was as tender and juicy as a beef filet steak AND tasted a whole lot better. It was marvelous! The bird that this meat came from was a 12 month old bird weighing in at 320 pounds. It was raised on the best nutrition I could come up with and gained nearly 1 pound per day since hatch. There was NO hint of “off flavors” and it smelled wonderful!
A successful nutrition program for your harvest birds is a MUST. A good example of a good nutritional program in Ostrich is one that will result in 140-160 pound hanging-weight carcasses near 12 months of age. The processor is happy because he paid you a hanging-weight price with the fat removed, and you gave him a large enough carcass so he can butcher only one bird yielding nearly 110 pounds of boneless meat in the package instead of two birds yielding 60 pounds of boneless meat in the package. This by itself, nearly cut the slaughter expense in half. The meat broker is happy because you gave him an excellent quality product with more uniform color and more steak cuts due to larger muscles. The hide company is happy because you grew them a hide that is larger and thicker with a grade one quality if it was handled correctly. And, most important, you are happy because you raised a high quality product in a cost effective manner that everyone wants–all because of your GREAT NUTRITIONAL PROGRAM!
| Return to articles menu |