New technology aims to boost emissions reduction effort
AgResearch is claiming that new technology to measure bovine methane emissions will bolster efforts to reduce the climate change impact from livestock.
Meat delivers more of the essential protein building blocks compared to a plant-based alternative.
That’s the findings from a human clinical trial done for the Pasture Raised Advantage research programme to explore the health and wellbeing benefits of eating pasture-raised beef and lamb as part of a balanced diet, compared to grain-finished beef or a plant-based alternative.
The project, which involved researchers at AgResearch, the University of Auckland, Massey University and the Riddet Institute, shows that red meat is probably a better source of protein for the body than highly processed plant-based products promoted as meat alternatives.
In this first of two clinical trials, 30 participants aged 20-34 years were fed breakfast on four different days and their blood, digestive symptoms and mood were monitored for four hours immediately following the meal.
Breakfast was a burrito that contained a single serving of a different protein each day; pasture-raised beef, grainfinished beef, lamb and a plant-based alternative – served in random order to each participant across the four days.
University of Auckland’s Andrea Braakhuis, who heads up the team of nutrition scientists responsible for the study, says they measured the nutrients in the blood of the participants.
It saw a significant difference in the type and amounts of amino acids that come from the digestion of the protein of red meat compared to the protein of the processed meat alternative.
“Amino acids from red meat were of greater biological value and better absorbed by the body,” she says.
AgResearch senior scientist Scott Knowles says the new generation of plant-based meat analogues are formulated to mimic the taste and basic nutrient composition of meat. But he says very little is known yet about their nutritional quality and health benefits.
“Plant-based alternatives are produced very differently from pasture- raised livestock and they’re marketed as having advantages in environmental footprint and sustainability,” Knowles explains. “Those credentials are still being scrutinised. However, we know for certain that NZ farmers are producing a highly nutritious food in one of the most efficient production systems in the world.”
A calf born at a Waikato Holstein Friesian stud has stunned her owner with her incredibly high credentials – surpassing his hope that she was going to be one out of the box.
Genetics may be one of the tools Fonterra farmers can tap into to reduce on farm emissions, according to LIC.
Agriculture and Trade Minister Todd McClay plans to visit India in the next fortnight, his first trade mission since the formation of the Government.
Australia's largest dairy co-operative Norco is back making ice cream, 18 months after a catastrophic flood destroyed its manufacturing plant.
Danish dairy co-operative Arla Foods is accelerating sustainability efforts on farm to help customers achieve their reduction targets for scope 3 emissions targets.
While New Zealand seems to be treading water on the subject of pricing emissions and the future of He Waka Eke Noa (HWEN), pending a new government, the Netherlands has been clearer on its proposed farm buy-out scheme, as part of its effort to reduce nitrogen emissions by at least 55% by 2030.
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