The production of Danish meat needs to be more climate-friendly, and at the same time, there needs to be more focus on animal welfare. These are the goals of a new result contract that the Danish Technological Institute has recently entered into. New technological solutions must be developed for quality preservation and processing of underutilized animal protein. At the same time, animal welfare for live production animals must be improved.
– There is increased awareness of animal welfare globally, and consumers are increasingly demanding foods that are produced in a climate-friendly manner. The production of animal protein has been ranked as one of the largest climate offenders, and therefore it is essential that we focus on a more efficient use of animal protein, says senior project manager Mari Ann Tørngren, Danish Technological Institute.
Documenting animal welfare
The Danish Technological Institute will, among other things, develop a new IT system to register and document animal welfare – from collection at the farmer to the slaughterhouse. Using, for example, cameras, temperature, and sound sensors, one can register animal behavior and intervene early if, for example, increased noise or injuries to the animals indicate that there is a problem.
– Good animal welfare is common sense. First and foremost for the sake of the animals. But also because experience shows that problems with animal welfare can deteriorate the quality of the meat. When animal welfare is better, less meat needs to be discarded, there is greater yield at slaughterhouses, and thus less food waste, says team leader Dorte Schrøder Pedersen, Danish Technological Institute.
Cooling and by-products
In addition to reducing food waste as a result of better animal welfare, the Danish Technological Institute will also work to make meat products more climate-smart by showing how to better utilize proteins in underutilized by-products such as lungs, heart, kidneys, and spleen.
– The plan is to test technologies for gentle extraction of the proteins, so their functionality is preserved, and thus they can be included as a functional ingredient in, among others, processed meat products, says Mari Ann Tørngren
– The aim is to demonstrate that different types of offal can become functional ingredients in food production of, for example, meat products and bread, and show that they have the potential to replace, among other things, milk proteins. The potential is significant because a better utilization of the carcass could reduce the climate impact by up to 20 percent per kg of finished product, she points out.
The result contract Climate-smart meat products with high animal welfare is supported by the Agency for Institutions and Education under the Ministry of Education and Research. The target group for the work is more than 500 Danish companies; food and ingredient producers, slaughterhouses, and technology providers.
Press Release