As with the entire food industry, whole-muscle processors face the challenge now of feeding an increasing number of people regardless of population growth projections. Processors are trying to feed more people with fewer resources, which ultimately means processors are raising larger animals through improvements in genetics and nutrition. Through increased efficiencies, the industry has been achieving more protein per animal unit. Larger animals, though, mean larger carcasses, and with larger carcasses come larger cuts. Fitting larger cuts into smaller-cut methodology is an active development area of whole-muscle processing.
“One of the big challenges we have in fresh meats right now is getting a larger carcass with larger cuts to meet the modern consumer’s needs, who is not necessarily looking for that size,” says Ryan Cox, associate professor of meat science at the University of Minnesota in St. Paul.