current products & nutrients
- Shu Sin Chong 15059826 -
As the world’s largest lamb export country, New Zealand have strict guidelines to classify lamb and mutton. There are four main categories to identify lamb as shown in Figure (1) (New Zealand Meat Classification Authority, 2004).
Figure (1): Four main categories to identify lamb (New Zealand Meat Classification Authority, 2004).
According to Beef + Lamb New Zealand (2010), all parts of sheep are used to produce low value products such as sausages, skins, medical products, margarine, baked goods, soaps, cosmetics and animal feed (Beef + Lamb New Zealand, 2013).
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New Zealand current exporting products are chilled lamb and frozen lamb (Beef + Lamb New Zealand, 2010).
Figure (2): Differences between chilled lamb and frozen lamb (Beef + Lamb New Zealand, 2010)
Chilled lamb contains lamb cuts that are vacuum packed and stored between -10°C to -0.5 °C for up to 3 months after production (Beef + Lamb New Zealand, 2010). Whereas frozen lamb is stored up to 3 days at 10 °C to 0.5°C to maintain the lamb’s tenderness after conditioning (Beef + Lamb New Zealand, 2010). Then after, the lamb is cut, vacuum packed or shrink-wrapped. It is then kept at temperature of -12 °C or lower. The frozen lamb has approximately 1 year of shelf life (Beef + Lamb New Zealand, 2010).
Nutrients
Lamb has a rich source of nutrients such as protein, vitamin B, iron, zinc and fat as shown in figure (3) (Beef + Lamb New Zealand, 2010; Beef + Lamb New Zealand, n.d.).
However, in this section, the components of lamb fat and nutrients composition of lamb organs will be focused.
Figure(3): Nutrients available in lamb (Beef + Lamb New Zealand, 2010; Beef + Lamb New Zealand, n.d.).
Lamb Fat
Lean lamb has similar or lower proportion of fat compared to other animals such as chicken and pig (Beef + Lamb New Zealand, 2010). It also has less than 1/5 of the total fat found in other protein foods such as cheese, nuts, etc (Beef + Lamb New Zealand, 2010). However, approximately 90% of the trimmed fat are inedible and are used to produce soap and cosmetic in abroad (Beef + Lamb New Zealand, 2013) .
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Lamb contains polyunsaturated fat such as omega 3 and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), monounsaturated fat, saturated fat and trans fats (Beef + Lamb New Zealand, 2010; Beef + Lamb New Zealand, 2013). By consuming a suitable amount these fats in lamb can provide fatty acids which are needed for our body to absorb fat-soluble nutrients and vitamins (Beef + Lamb New Zealand, 2010).
Polyunsaturated Fat
Polyunsaturated fat contains a little amount of omega 3 which can aid individuals with heart disease and improve brain activity (Beef + Lamb New Zealand, 2010).
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Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is a polyunsaturated fat found only in ruminants which includes New Zealand lamb (Beef + Lamb New Zealand, 2010). Studies of treatments of CLA on rats has put forth evidence of a depletion in the probability of having cancer and decreasing of tumour size (Beef + Lamb New Zealand, 2010). Around 15% of the required daily amount of CLA can be provided by New Zealand lamb (Beef + Lamb New Zealand, 2010).
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Monounsaturated fat
Monounsaturated fat increases the high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol while reducing the low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol that reduces the occurrence of atherosclerosis which is the hardening of arteries (Mosquera, 2013; Beef + Lamb New Zealand, 2013).
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Saturated Fat
Half of the fat in New Zealand lamb is saturated and one third of this fat is stearic acid (Beef + Lamb New Zealand, 2013). Stearic acid is a type of saturated fat with no effect on cholesterol levels (Beef + Lamb New Zealand, 2010). Furthermore, cholesterol in food do not always caused an increase in cholesterol level in our blood (Beef + Lamb New Zealand, 2010).
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Trans Fats
New Zealand lamb contains organic trans fats which do not have harmful consequences on cholesterol instead the trans fats are turned into CLA during human digestion (Beef + Lamb New Zealand, 2013).
Nutrients in lamb organs
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According to Bester and Schönfeldt (2015), from University of Pretoria, South Africa, lamb organs have capabilities to produce a nourishing diet.
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As shown in the table (4), lamb’s spleen has a high percentage of protein and zinc, on top of that it has more than 60% of iron content compare to the other organs such as lungs, heart, livers, stomachs, kidneys, tongues. Whereas, intestines have the lowest percentage of protein and zinc.
Figure (4): Percentage of Nutrient Reference Value (NRV) of lamb organ meats (Bester and Schönfeldt, 2015)
In conclusion, lamb contains nutrients such as proteins, iron, zinc, fats and vitamin B which are beneficial to human's health if consumed in a recommended amount.
