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Animal
by-products are the parts of slaughtered animals that are not
directly consumed by humans, including dead on-farm animals
and catering waste (i.e. waste food originating from restaurants,
catering facilities and kitchens) that contains or has been
in contact with meat products, whether cooked or uncooked. Some
of these products are used in animal proteins like meat-and-bone
meal, fats, gelatine, collagen, pet food and other technical
products such as glue, leathers, soaps, fertilisers etc. The
alternative to these uses for ABPs is destruction, usually though
incineration. |
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A.
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Once
animals are slaughtered, the process of separating the meat
and offal for human consumption from the by-products begins.
As
carcases move down the slaughtering line, the hide, skin or
feathers are removed, followed by the stomach, lungs, intestines,
heart, liver, and other vital organs. With many of today's
abattoirs also involved in meat processing, other by-products
arise, such as bones, meat trimmings and fat.
At this point the by-products are segregated, dependent on
their quality or on veterinary classification (specified risk
material from cattle or sheep, for example).
By-products are transferred to, and stored in, dedicated containers
which are collected by the renderer the same day. Dependent
on the quality and classification of the by-products, they
will be transported to one of the DEFRA-registered rendering
plants in the UK. All meet strict EU health and environmental
standards and controls. All aspects of the process are governed
by stringent legislation which defines the maximum particle
size, the cooking time, and minimum temperatures.
The
rendering process
Renderers process most animal by-products from the meat production
chain that do not end up on the consumer's plate. In the Western
world, this represents almost one third of the weight of animals
slaughtered (more than 1.75 million tonnes in the UK each
year, producing 250,000 tonnes of fat and 400,000 tonnes of
protein meal).
The rendering process is the crushing and grinding of animal
by-products, followed by heat treatment to reduce the moisture
content and kill micro-organisms. Separation of the melted
fat (tallow) from the solid (protein) is achieved through
centrifuging (spinning) and pressing. The solid fraction is
then ground into a powder, such as meat meal or meat and bone
meal.
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