Source: Rita Jane Gabbett, MEATINGPLACE, 11/24/15

The newest Meat MythCrusher video, produced by the North American Meat Institute (NAMI) and American Meat Science Association (AMSA), addresses the variety of products sourced from livestock in addition to meat, and how those products should be considered when discussing the sustainability of livestock production.

On average, 44 percent of the beef carcass is not used for food; in pigs, 30 percent of the animal goes to other sources. Other animal products include the hides, skins, hair, hoofs, horns, feet, heads, bones, blood, organs, glands and intestines, which can be used to make products including leather, medicines, cosmetics, pet food and soaps.

“Rendering certainly adds to the sustainability of our industry in that we repurpose or reuse almost the entire animal for many things," said Dale Woerner, associate professor at Colorado State University, who narrates the video. “We’re able to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and that can be equated to 12 million cars per year off U.S. roadways.”

Woerner adds that those additional products are not commonly included in calculations of sustainability cited in the media.
“Often times in those discussions and the studies that have been conducted, the rendering and recycling of livestock and meat items is not included in those factors, but by utilizing rendering and recycling animal goods we are drastically improving livestock’s long shadow and improving the efficiency and sustainability in our business.”

The newest Meat MythCrusher video is the 45th in the six-year-old series meant to dispel the most common myths surrounding meat and poultry production and processing. The videos feature interviews with meat scientists. Altogether, the videos have been viewed more than 130,000 times.

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