Protein balls made from meat powder served up at Beef 2024

Aussie scientists have developed a way to value-add to the country's traditional food staple, and now they are on the lookout for investors to commercialise the product.

Meat & Livestock Australia group manager for science and training Michael Lee said MLA and the CSIRO had created a method which turned beef mince into a powder which could be used in a range of foods.

"On average 80 per cent of the value of a beef carcase only comes from 20pc of the cuts," he said.

"We want to do more with that cut and we're not wasting it, but we want to add more value.

"We've showcased meat as an ingredient and used some pretty smart food technology to convert meat into a functional ingredient that is soluble, that can go into a protein bar or a collagen drink through to a meatball.

"We're starting with trim that normally goes into a sausage or a burger... and what we do is hydrolyse that, we use some enzymes and still use a natural, clean process that produces a functional meat power."

The powder is odourless, flavourness and can be used as a natural meat extract.

"We almost take all the flavours out, keep all the goodies about protein, iron and zinc in the powder and then separately we have this natural flavour extract as well that we can add to soups and sauces," Mr Lee said.

"There's a global protein shortage so from our perspective, we want to get great returns for our steaks and chops and roasts, but for us, why not get into completely new usages and occasions?

Mr Lee said the plan now was to find investors who would create a "spin-out" company to commercialise the product.

"What investors are out there that want to invest in this, what companies want to supply the meat, through to what food companies want to use this ingredient," he said.

CSIRO research scientist Aarti Tobin said the meat powder was "incredibly versatile".

"The powder is high in protein, it's nutrient-dense, it's highly soluble, shelf stable and allergy-free," she said.

"We've just used manufacture-grade meat at the moment but in the future we can use other parts of the animal, like looking offal or either hide to do collagen powders.

"We've been talking to industry about the project but now we're at that stage where we want industry and partners to come on board to commercialise it."