Rendering R&D gets international boost

The first New Zealand meat industry appointments to the international Fats and Protein Research Association (FPRF) were made recently.

Graham Shortland, chief executive of Waitoa-based Wallace Corporation, is now a director of the Foundation, while meat scientist Mike North, formerly with AgResearch and now project manager for Taranaki Bio Extracts, has been appointed to the FPRF research committee.

Shortland believes that this is a “super opportunity” for the New Zealand and Australian rendering industry to be directly involved in and influence a very credible organisation. “I’m looking forward to taking up the role,” he says.

The US-based FPRF sponsors research on rendered products to enhance current usage and also to develop new uses.

Rendering is an important contributor to revenues for the New Zealand meat industry, producing value-added products, tallow and bone meal (see Food NZ February/March 2010) and also mitigating greenhouse gas emissions. Exports of both products to the year end June 2012 were worth $308 million. Tallow exports grew in value by $16 million to $169 million, with volume rising 15,710 tonnes to 134,177 tonnes, with China taking over two-thirds of the exported product. While the value of meat and bone meal exports – primarily to Indonesia and the US – grew by $10 million to $139 million, the volume fell slightly, by just over 3,000 tonnes, on the previous year to 145,563 tonnes.

Both Wallace Corporation and Taranaki Bio Extracts are members of the Meat Industry Association (MIA)’s Renderers’ Group, which recently received New Zealand Trade & Enterprise funding for a market development project aiming to increase returns by selling rendered products into higher value applications and markets. Insights Shortland and North gain from their involvement with FPRF will be fed back into that project, which is now at stage one: targeted market research.

“We are now starting to see a clearer picture of where we might obtain higher returns for some of our basic commodities,” says Shortland. “The FPRF has carried out research and innovation projects that could well help us move our value-add objectives ahead more speedily.”

Offering his congratulations on their appointment, Renderers’ Group executive member Alan von Tunzelman, general manager of PVL Proteins Ltd and a past president of the World Renderers’ Organisation, said he never thought a nominee from this country would be appointed to a role in the international organisation.

“To get both appointed to the respective roles is a great tribute to how they feel about us as an organisation and as people who can contribute positively and make sensible inputs into the FPRF. This is a wonderful opportunity to advance international research and development into rendering and the great work performed by the Meat Industry Research Institute of New Zealand has a further chance of some new life.”

The Renderers Group runs training workshops, which enable experienced operators and  supervisors to receive the core knowledge necessary for the National Certificate in Meat Processing (Rendering Level 4) and to build networks with others in the industry. In addition, a joint meeting for members with Australian counterparts in March gave further opportunity for international sharing of knowledge.

In consultation with members, the group published the ‘New Zealand Rendering Industry Guidelines for Managing and Assessing Odour’  last year. Copies are available from the MIA.

Find out more about FPRF at its website www.fprf.org.

 

This article first appeared in Food NZ (December 2012/January 2013).

Alliance getting ready for new season

Meat processor and exporter Alliance Group, like many others, has been busy getting ready for the new meat export season. The company has announced new plant and process modifications at two of its South Island plants, Pukeuri and Lorneville, recently. 

Additional shift and modifications at Pukeuri

Alliance is to provide an additional shift at its Pukeuri plant as it ramps up cattle processing in the peak period, the company announced last week.

The third shift at the plant north of Oamaru will enable the company to process 880 extra cattle a week through May and June when the cattle throughput traditionally hits its peak. the third shift will also offer about 80 existing employees from the sheep and lamb processing shifts a longer season.

Alliance Group is currently undertaking a number of modifications to the plant, including extending the cattle yards ahead of the change.

John Brader, general manager of processing at Alliance Group, says the additional third shift was necessary to ensure Alliance continues to meet the needs of its suppliers.

Alterations have been made in Alliance’s systems to accommodate the additional cartons, giving more flexibility to which blast freezers or equilibration chillers the product can be directed, he explained.

Pukeuri processes more than 10,500 sheep and lambs a day. More than 900 staff work at the plant, which is the largest employer in North Otago. It is estimated the plant injects around $100 million into the local economy each year.

New rendering plant at Lorneville

In addition, Alliance announced that it has also completed the construction of the building for a new $13 million rendering plant at it’s Lorneville plant near Invercargill. Rendering machinery is now being installed in the 1,121 square metre building. The facility, which is designed to reduce Alliance’s energy and operating costs, as well as improve product recovery, is expected to be commissioned in October.

The new plant incorporates the latest technology, including a Press Dewatering System, which uses less energy and produces high quality products. When fitted with a waste heat evaporator, the process is virtually ‘zero waste’, resulting in high product yields and low wastewater output.

The first stage in a larger rendering redevelopment project, two further stages are proposed in the future. The complete project is said to save 9,000 tonnes of lignite and more than 1.5 million hours of electricity a year, enough to power 170 homes a year, the company says.

John Brader says the new rendering plant represented the largest single investment at the Lorneville plant for more than a decade.

“Completion of the building marks a major milestone for the development. Rendering remains a significant contributor to Alliance Group’s income and the investment in the latest technology will ensure we maximise revenue in this area.

“Alliance measures energy use and the associated greenhouse gas emissions from its plant to assist in making good business decisions.

“Since 2000, Alliance Group has reduced greenhouse gas emissions from energy use at its processing plants by 26 percent per unit of production and total fuel use has been reduced by 32 percent.”

Almost 2,000 people are employed at Lorneville, which is New Zealand’s largest sheepmeat processing plant.