World Ostrich Association Newsletter No. 91
October, 2010

Included in this edition:
Web Site Hosting Service Move
Animal Cloning & Genetic Modification
Forecasting potential global environmental costs of livestock production 2000-2050
Comparative Saturated Fat Content of Meat
AGM

Web Site Hosting Service Move
Our web site hosting service and web name registration are due for renewal during October.  To reduce our expenditure on these services, we are in the process of transferring the web site to a new server.  When moving to a new server, it can take several days before all servers point to the correct server.  So if you experience difficulty accessing the web site, this maybe the reason and you may need to wait till later in the day or the next day. 

Once the transition is complete, all links within the site should be functioning as before.  However if any of you come across links that are not working properly, or your user name and passwords not working correctly, please email me and I will check. During the transition we cannot be certain that the association email addresses will be working correctly.  If you do experience difficulties, please accept our apologies.

Animal Cloning & Animal Genetic Modification
These two topics are currently actively discussed in the press.  Whether or not they are safe for human consumption is not important when it comes to marketing our products it is “consumer perception” that is important.   These extreme efforts to improve genetic performance are driven by the need to produce food ever more efficiently.   The traditional species have now reached their extremes through natural selection and now seeking assistance from biotechnology.

A major advantage for Ostrich is the fact that no meaningful genetic improvement using natural selection has yet been applied to production ostrich.  

The European Food Safety Authority has issued an Update on the State of Play of Animal Cloning which can be read here:  http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/scdocs/scdoc/1784.htm . 

The discussion on Genetic Modification in meat production is the recent news that Genetically Modified Salmon.  These articles are just a taste of the discussions on the subject -  Fish or Frankenfish,  FDA Advisers Weigh Approval of Genetically Modified Salmon.   Whether approved or not, from a marketing viewpoint the current reports are that the FDA in the US may not approve labelling to enable consumers to make choices on what they buy  - and how this decision could have a serious impact on the whole industry - Genetically engineered salmon, if approved by FDA, could destroy the salmon industry. 

Both these issues emphasize the opportunities for ostrich once production is put onto a full commercial basis with genetic improvement by natural selection.  Produced under commercial conditions, Ostrich can provide a red meat cost effectively.

Forecasting potential global environmental costs of livestock production 2000-2050
Over the years we increasingly hear of the environmental costs of feeding livestock in place of humans eating a diet based on vegetation.  This week saw the publication of another paper discussing this topic and achieving high profile press coverage - Forecasting potential global environmental costs of livestock production 2000–2050.  The press release  concludes:

The authors suggest that livestock production will double over the next 50 years.  That is in line with many predictions on increases in populations combined with improving standards of living.  Whether one agrees with their suggestions that beef (and other ruminant production) are bad for the planet, Ostrich can fit their model as an efficient producer of meat protein – and they produce a red meat.

Only the abstract of their paper is available on line free, but their supporting data is available here and makes interesting reading. 

Providing food is about providing nutrients in the best format for our consumption.  Livestock fed correctly are efficient converters of plant nutrients to meat protein and fat, which alone history has proven provides all the nutrients humans require in a highly digestible format with minimal preparation.   

In contrast, humans need to eat considerably more total weight in food to obtain all the required nutrients if dependent on plants for most of their nutrients.  I have yet to see studies that examine the environmental costs of all the processing the grains to be suitable for human consumption.  They undergo significant processing, utilising additional energy resources with many requiring nutrients added to them to make them.

Comparative Saturated Fat Content of Meat
One of the major selling points promoting ostrich over the years is the low fat content of the meat.  Table 1 makes interesting reading.

Table 1 - Saturated Fat Content of Meat [source: Page 55 - Big Fat Lies - Hannah Sutter]

This table demonstrates how the red meat industry has adapted to meet the demand for low fat meat that our consumers are demanding. 

The pig genetic companies have become so refined that they can adapt the genetics to meet current market demand very quickly.

AGM
A quick reminder that the AGM will be held on Thursday 28th September at 19:00 British Summer time – see table 2 for other times.  The agenda and all information is available on the web site and can be found at:  http://www.world-ostrich.org/member/agm2010announce.htm.

Table 2 - AGM Times by Region

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