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Shining the Light on Meat.
Shining the Light on Meat.by Bette Flagler.
Mike North is a senior food engineer at the government-owned research company AgResearch in Hamilton. He says that while the genetics and growth rate of New Zealand livestock certainly contribute to our reputation for producing some of the highest quality meat in the world, 70% of meat quality comes from things like how the animal is transported and slaughtered and how the meat is cooled, packaged and transported.
Consumers will pay more than twice as much for chilled meat as frozen, says Mike. And that's because chilled meat is generally tastier and tenderer than frozen meat - and it looks nicer, too.
"People look at a piece of meat and they say 'oh, it's a nice, bright, cherry red colour and it's got less fat in it. This is the meat for me'. But that really tells them nothing about what the eating experience is going to be like," says Mike.
Consumers don't choose meat with regard to things like tenderness, because there is currently no way to measure it. And figuring that out is exactly what Mike and his team of scientists and engineers are trying to do. The team is using a technology called near infrared spectrometry, or NIR. Near infrared light is shined onto the meat and the light spectrum that is reflected back is analysed to give insight into the texture and chemical composition of the meat.
Mike's team has developed a prototype spectrophotometer - a kind of device for measuring light intensity - and is working on NIR readings and results. They are also developing a way to put the technology in meat processing plants so hopefully consumers will have a way to choose meat that not only looks nice, but will taste good, too.
Warren McNabb, who is also a scientist at AgResearch, says the technology Mike and his team are developing has the potential to revolutionise the meat processing industry by measuring and predicting meat quality.
In March, Mike - who says he likes science because of the fun that you have looking at new things every day and trying to tackle problems that aren't easy to solve - was named Emerging Biotechnologist of the Year. He says he was shocked and delighted with the award. But it wasn't the first time this guy has won something. After he finished a four-year degree in food technology at Massey University in 1996, he won a scholarship to work at the Nestle research centre in Switzerland. He spent four months there - during a wet and dark Swiss winter - and his interest in science was cemented. But Mike didn't spend all his time in the lab. The research centre has an onsite five-star restaurant (where everyone spends a couple hours a day eating lunch, he says) and a music room where Mike - a rock guitarist - could join in a band every day. Mike came back from Switzerland, and earned a PhD in food engineering from Massey in 2001.
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