OSTRICH AND EMU – THE large native birds of Africa and Australia respectively – may not be the first thing you would expect to see on a menu but in the past three decades they have been hailed for possessing lean, healthy meat and are farmed both in Australia and overseas.
Farmed emus have proved to be a popular enterprise in the US in particular, with the Aussie icon farmed for meat in several States since the late 1980s, according to the American Emu Association.
Farmed ostrich in Australia has found plenty of export markets, particularly recently; due to a bird flu epidemic in South Africa this year, European countries, as well as the US, Canada and Japan, have been keen to source Australian ostrich meat.
Michael Hastings, of Hastings Ostrich Australia, Winchelsea, Victoria, said demand for Australian ostrich meat was “insatiable” from these countries at the moment.
“We can’t keep up with the demand from the US, Canada and Japan,” Mr Hastings said.
“Europe at the moment is also desperate for product.
“It is very highly sought after, and we have recently seen some of the highest prices for 20 years.”
He said South Africa stocks the world’s greatest quantity of ostrich meat, but the bird flu epidemic there meant countries were looking to other sources – such as Australia – for product.
“We have had so much trouble keeping up with the export market that we haven’t been able to sell much domestically,” he said.
“We do sell a little bit to a couple of restaurants, but the prices we are getting for large export volumes surpass those of what we get domestically.”
Hastings Ostrich Australia runs about 3500 birds across three properties, in conjunction with beef grazing and lucerne production.
“The ostrich industry really kicked off in the 1860s, when there was a boom because of the feathers, but it picked up again in the late 1980s, driven by the leather market,” Mr Hastings said.
“Skin prices are right up there too, like the meat, the prices are the best we have seen in about 20 years.
“At the moment there is probably a world shortage of skins as well.”
Now the focus is on the meat, which has been recognised for possessing several benefits.
“Ostrich is a healthy red meat, and with the cuts that you would find in beef,” he said.
“It is very low in cholesterol, has good protein, high in iron and as such is highly sought after.
“Some dieticians (in the US) prescribe it to their patients, and it is even stocked in a few supermarkets there.”
He said in recent years there had been much more interest in ostrich meat domestically as well.
Priam Meats, based in Queanbeyan and which has been specialising in game meat products for the past 30 years, processes small amounts of emu and ostrich fillets.
Priam Meats owner Peter Gowland said while they weren’t as prominent as their big sellers – chiefly kangaroo meat – emu and ostrich meat were regarded as something of a novelty and were considered to be very lean, healthy meats.
The Game Meats Company, Eurobin, Victoria, processes game meats including emu and ostrich, and chief executive officer Robert Cavedon said that aside from the lean eating quality of emu meat and its high source of iron, emu oil was also a popular product with consumers, and found to possess several health benefits.
It contains vitamins A and E, Omega 3, 6 and 9 and is harvested from the fat of farmed emus.