Cal Poly Update | May 2007 | Animal Science Professor in Africa

SAN LUIS OBISPO -- Animal Science Professor Bob Delmore recently traveled to Ethiopia as part of a project for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

Photo of Bob Delmore with Somali meat processing plant officials

The project involves setting standards for the Ethiopian livestock industry and meat processing plants, plus a marketing effort for that African nation's meat products.

The USAID meat project in Ethiopia is intended to increase that nation's exports of cattle, sheep and goats from crop-livestock systems in Ethiopia's the highlands as well as pastoral systems in the nation's lowlands. Increasing exports of meat and livestock will provide for market-led economic growth, poverty reduction and improved livelihoods in Ethiopia, Delmore explained.

To reach the export target, the Ethiopian meat sector will need to significantly expand meat production, de-boning and vacuum packaging of boneless beef, Delmore found. That would be a significant change from the current Ethiopian mean export activities, which have been primarily focused on the export of sheep and goat meats.

The transition from sheep and goat exports to beef exports would mean many changes for existing Ethiopian meat processing plants, Delmore found. The professor reviewed seven Ethiopian plants specifically for their potential for conversion to cattle meat processing, including de-boned and vacuum packaged meat cuts, with final packages of beef cuts produced ready-chilled or frozen.

The USAID project in Ethiopia is managed by Texas A&M University on behalf of the foreign aid organization, which invited Cal Poly's professor Delmore to travel to Africa to evaluate seven meat processing plants for their potential to develop a beef export program to countries in the the Middle East. Delmore spent three weeks in Ethiopia in March evaluating meat processing plants for the study.

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