The other red meats: UW to study alternatives

A team of researchers will study ways to improve marketing and processing of alternative red-meat animals including ratites, such as ostriches, emu and rhea; farm-raised red deer and fallow deer; and bison.

The state, in collaboration with the Meat Science Laboratory at the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, has received a grant to study this rapidly growing industry. In the five-state region of Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and Minnesota, more than 5,000 producers raise alternative forms of livestock.

CALS meat scientists Dennis Buege, Larry Borchert and Mark Kreul will be working to:

• Evaluate harvest technologies to maximize product quality.
• Develop testing guidelines to ensure public confidence as these products enter organic, natural, health or gourmet food markets.
• Develop ready-to-eat and minimal-preparation meat products that add value, improve product consistency or add flavor diversity to the marketplace.
• Complement existing USDA nutritional information by conducting cooked-product analyses.

The project should be completed by early 2000.