US meat firms find uses for unwanted animal parts

 

 

US meat companies are becoming more inventive in sustainability through finding new uses for byproducts.

 

More companies are creating renewable products such as adhesives and plastics from animal parts that cannot be sold on supermarket shelves. These include plastics made from feather protein, diesel fuel made from fat and organic fertilisers made from poultry litter, said Tom Cook, president of the National Renderers Association.

 

For years, those unwanted parts have ended up in cosmetics, soap, pet food and animal feed, and meat companies are now putting more resources into sustainability programmes, said Paul Rutledge of the American Meat Institute's sustainability committee.

 

There are still a number of uses for the byproducts that have yet to be discovered, said Annel Greene, director at the Animal Co-Products Research & Education Centre.

 

But Kathy Guillermo, vice president of laboratory investigations for PETA, has doubts on these sustainability methods.

 

She said many consumers would be surprised to learn the number of products with animal ingredients in them, and rendered materials that are fed to livestock and pets could spread diseases.

 

The last thing the US need is another use for the bodies of animals, said Guillermo.

 

Waste materials from meat processing are treated with special considerations at landfills because they produce strong odours and methane when decomposing, said Jeremy O'Brien, director of applied research for the Solid Waste Association of North America.

Tyson Foods is developing plastics, adhesives and non-woven materials from the keratin protein found in feathers, said Jeff Webster, the group vice president of the renewable products division. Someday, disposable babies' diapers or hospital gowns could be made from the materials, he said.

 

Tyson Foods is also involved in a joint venture with Syntroleum Corp. of Tulsa to build a renewable fuels plant in Baton Rouge. The plant will convert beef tallow, pork lard, chicken fat and cooking grease into a synthetic diesel fuel.

 

Perdue Farms collects poultry litter - a blend of manure and wood shavings - and converts it into organic fertiliser pellets to be sold to wholesalers, said Cathy Klein, vice president for co-product sales.

 

Maple Leaf Foods of Toronto operates its own biodiesel plant near Montreal and uses a portion of the fuel it produces in its company trucks, said Todd Moser, vice president of alternative fuels.