MONTREAL – As Canadian beef sellers work the potentially lucrative Asian market, they really are selling everything but the ‘moo.’
These days, roast and steak cuts are not the money-makers as Canadian exporters and representatives of the Canada Beef Export Federation promote their products in Japan, South Korea and smaller regional markets.
Increasingly, animal parts that once were considered close to waste are revenue generators.
In 1996, close to 43 percent of Canadian beef and veal products sold in Asian markets were edible offal products.
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And as Alberta rancher and Canada Beef Export Federation president Jim Graham noted last week, that is money-in-the-jeans for Canada’s livestock producers.
“Price increases for bovine tongues have added nearly $5 to the value of each fed steer and heifer processed in Canada,” Graham told the federation’s semi-annual meeting.
He said packers no longer buy simply beef. “They are also bidding and paying for feet, tongues, tails, major organs, intestines and tripe.”
The beauty of it is that these organs were thrown away in Canada.
“We are working to promote the entire animal in Asia, many times creating the only high-value market for offal products that would otherwise be rendered,” said Graham. “This increases fed cattle prices.”
