Over 400 visits to meat plants here in New Zealand and around the world, up to his elbows and covered in blood and guts, have paid off for Adept clip inventor and managing director Murray Fenton.

Now used widely in meat plants throughout the world, the device reduces or eliminates contamination from gut contents during processing. The clips were first made in the 1970s after a call from a slaughter board supervisor at a local lamb processing plant. In 2009, the company announced that the billionth clip had just rolled off the production line (see Food NZ magazine, June 2009).

Appearing in a video interview alongside three other plastics industry leaders in the latest offering from Leaders Review, Murray says the first plant managers initially didn’t even bother dragging themselves out to see what he was doing. So it was a matter of standing there by himself, getting covered in the worst substances imaginable, stoically applying his new design to the carcases. That was until the the result and the effect on the production process became obvious. “Gustsy! Literally,” says Leaders Review‘s Peter Anich.

“Three out of the four plastics leaders made a point of not calling themselves ‘sales’ folk of any shape when when they started out. In fact, they described how downright awkward about this crucial process they had been. Innovation and product conviction pushed them forward anyway.”

Adept’s website states that of its meat industry products, meet EU and FDA Food-Contact requirements and are compatible with all rendering systems.

View the interviews at Leaders Review – Plastics Industry.