More money is available to help identify new products from
beef. Photo by Stephen Jaquiery.
An $87 million programme that will look at how more value
can be generated from beef carcasses has attracted government
funding.
The Primary Growth Partnership (PGP) will fund half the
Foodplus programme, which is proposed by meat exporter Anzco
Foods, committing $43.5 million over seven years.
Foodplus will identify opportunities to create new products,
with a particular focus on parts of the beef carcass that
currently generate less value.
The company has identified three markets for innovative new
products - food, ingredients and healthcare.
Anzco welcomed the opportunity to partner with the Crown, as
it was a large-scale project that would not be achievable
without collaboration, the company's food and solutions
division chief executive Rennie (CRCT) Davidson said.
Anzco Foods is a multinational group of companies, with sales
of $1.3 billion. It is better known to farmers by its
processing plants and cattle feedlot - CMP, Riverlands and
Five Star Beef.
Adding further value to the carcass was essential for the
future success of the meat industry. Anzco's vision for
Foodplus was "relevant and bold" and was now backed by a
significant investment, Ministry for Primary Industries
director-general Wayne McNee said.
Primary Industries Minister David Carter said the proposal
was "exactly" what the PGP was all about - transforming
great
ideas into tangible research and development programmes which
were focused on results.
The announcement lifted the total government-industry
investment in PGP since its inception three years ago to $665
million.
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