The issue of animal welfare is not only a concern of consumers, whose demands are higher and who increasingly condition their purchase decision, but also producers and the meat industries. The sector knows very well the effects of a low level of animal welfare not only on the productions, but also on the quality of the meat. Bad conditions of animal welfare in the farm, transport or slaughter, have a very negative effect on the final quality of the product.
In this sense, the meat industries are the first interested in seeking high standards of welfare and, for this reason, IRTA and ANAFRIC will collaborate jointly on animal welfare issues, working with interested ANAFRIC associates with the Welfare Quality protocols for sheep and goats. This protocol applies from the production farm itself to transport and slaughter. Welfare Quality is a protocol recognized at European level and in which IRTA has participated in its development and implementation.
The collaboration between ANAFRIC and IRTA has been developing fruitfully for some time. One of the latest achievements in meat R & D resulting from this collaboration has been to extend the commercial shelf life in refrigeration of vacuum-packed pieces of beef up to 84 days with the clear objective of exporting. Our next step is to bring this conservation protocol to the companies associated with ANAFRIC interested in the export markets of refrigerated fresh beef, comments the president of ANAFRIC, José Friguls.
Likewise, IRTA and ANAFRIC will work to apply this conservation methodology to sheep meat to allow ANAFRIC companies to access foreign markets with full guarantees of conservation of their product.
Our excellent relationship and collaboration with IRTA allows us, in the case of cattle, and will allow us in the sheep-goat, to reach our partners a new competitive advantage for their exports, at a time when they are opening new distant markets, like the Chinese or new perspectives towards markets like the Canadian with which we are initiating conversations next to other associations of the sector, indicates the president of ANAFRIC, Jose Friguls.
