Background

In 2020, the APL Board identified pork eating quality as a prioritisation to address the Strategic Plan 2020-25 Theme 3 of “Driving consumer demand”. This strategic intent warrants investment in improving the eating quality of pork through innovation and science. As such, eating quality was a key factor identified in the 2020-2025 Strategic Plan as an influence on consumer demand in both domestic and international markets. The strategic focus for R&I will be to address the main contributors both on farm and in processing that lead to increased eating consistency and quality. It is well recognised that the ability to accurately measure lean meat yield (LMY) and utilise this information presents processors with the capability to better target and schedule carcases of consistent specifications to meet the requirements of end markets, whether these are boning rooms producing retail products or small goods manufacturers. This also increases opportunities in improving the efficiency of boning rooms. Through this, processors are able to drive improvements in carcase quality by providing LMY, fatness cover and P2 measurement feedback to producers, geneticists and nutritionists. Producers can use this information to make improved breeding, feeding and management decisions based on factual data.

Project requirements

The amount of saleable meat on a carcass is a key profit driver within livestock industries as it can vary substantially between carcases of the same weight, mainly due to variation in carcase fatness. The measure is taken online at the abattoir using systems that vary in the degree of automation. Automatic systems of measurement available in Australian abattoirs include PorkScan Plus (PorkScan Pty Ltd., Australia) and AUTOFOM (Frontmatec, Denmark) and semi-automatic systems (manual probe) such as PorkScan Lite and Hennessy Grading Probe (Hennessy Grading System Ltd., New Zealand). This project aims to compare these systems within Australia’s pork supply chain against a common gold standard measure – percent fat, lean, and bone determined by computed tomography through CT scan, as well as their ability to predict trimmed primal weights into bone, lean and fat.

Relationship to APL Strategic

Themes These research initiatives for this RFP target APL Strategic Theme 3 ‘Drive consumer demand” (Eating Quality and Processing programs) and the research proposal should address how the research will address this. More information can be found in the APL-Strategic-Plan-2020-2025. https://australianpork.com.au/sites/default/files/2021-05/APL-Strategic-Plan-2020-2025.pdf

Specific Terms of Reference

Research applications must address the specific area of this RFP and the Strategic Theme. Research providers successfully tendering for projects are to meet the objectives described above, and will be responsible for:

1. Assembling expertise from within or between organisations to deliver one or more of the research outcomes identified earlier;
2. Designing scientific studies, in consultation with APL, to provide new information and know- how;
3. Securing access to research facilities (laboratories, equipment, on-farm demonstration sites) and the necessary approvals for the conduct of the research;
4. Developing a comprehensive project plan which includes detailed methodologies and budgets and describes the cash and in-kind contributions to the project, and subsequently delivering the research within budget;
5. Analysing and reporting all data generated in formal reports to APL; and
6. Disseminating key findings from the research to the wider scientific community in a variety of formats subject to approval by APL.

Project deliverables

1. Final Report
2. Development of factsheets (through working with the APL Producer Relations team) for pig producers and processors providing recommendations based on scientific analysis

Timeline

29th October 2021      -  Application submission
30th November 2021  -  Expected execution of contract/issue of Provider Agreement

Submission

How to make a submission:

Register or log in via PigConnect - https://pigconnect.australianpork.com.au/
• Submit and manage Project Applications
• View and manage your in-progress Projects

Contact
If you are interested in submitting an application, please contact:

Dr Vaibhav Gole - Manager, Integrity Systems
M: 0436934763
E: vaibhav.gole@australianpork.com.au