Nutrition expert says beef industry has powerful story to tell

One of Australia’s foremost science communicators and nutrition experts has a simple message to critics of the red meat industry – meat doesn’t lie.

Nicknamed “The simple scientist”, Dr Anneline Padayachee (pictured) has been listed among the top 50 cutting edge female scientists in the country and a Future Food Leader in Innovation by Food Innovation Australia.

Dr Padayachee was the keynote speaker at the launch of the ABSF 2023 Annual Update and recalled a recent encounter with vegan activists on the streets of Melbourne who were displaying a poster which said: “If you’re not vegan you are pro cruelty, prove me wrong”.

“I asked the audience ‘What colour is the meat you buy?’ and they were like ‘it’s bright red’,” she said.

“And I said, “that’s an indicator that the animal wasn’t stressed out prior to slaughter in the case of beef or lamb. When an animal is stressed before slaughter, if it’s beef or lamb, it develops a thing called ‘dry cutting’, a dark maroon colour, and that is how you know that an animal was stressed.

“If it’s pork, an animal that was stressed prior to slaughter will develop PSE condition which basically means pale, soft, exudative. You could poke it and it will squirt at you, it’s a really pale colour – that means the animal was stressed prior to slaughter. So, meat doesn’t lie.”

“They said, ‘Well meat causes cancer’ and I said we don’t have the mechanisms that prove that specifically eating meat directly causes cancer. We know there are certain diets and lifestyles that increase your risk of developing certain cancers, but we can’t say meat 100% causes cancer.

“At the end of it these guys packed up their table and I just stood at the microphone and answered questions on nutrition in the Bourke Street Mall for about 30 minutes. They took their stuff, the audience gave me a round of applause and I went off and had my lunch.”

Dr Padayachee said the encounter shows that the red meat industry has many positive aspects and are continually looking at ways to improve across the entire supply chain and animal husbandry practices to continuously seek best practices for animals, humans, and the environment. She encouraged industry members to share their knowledge and expertise, pointing to a study in the United States by an animal activist group which tracked vegans for five years.

“What they found after five years was of those who chose to become vegan for health reasons, 84% went back to being an omnivore,” she said.

“It is very hard to maintain health on a plant-exclusive diet. It can be costly to be able to afford the range of supplementary products needed.”

In addition, not all protein offers the same level of nutritional content or bioavailability.

“Proteins are made of amino acids, which is what builds every cell in your body from your DNA to your toenails,” she said.

“While the human body can manufacture 12 of the 20 amino acids needed by the body, there are some amino acids we cannot produce, and these are called essential amino acids. We have to get essential amino acids from the food we eat.”

Animal-derived foods contain all essential amino acids. Plants and legumes currently contain varying amounts of different essential amino acids, but generally not all. For example, baked beans contain lysine but lack methionine and tryptophan. On the other hand, wholewheat bread is low in lysine.

“If you have baked beans on toast for breakfast, you are able to create a more complete amino acid profile from that meal, but how many people know that?

“Beef has all of the essential amino acids we need, that we are unable to manufacture in our body.”

She said red meat will have an essential role in feeding a growing global population, particularly in developing regions of Africa and Asia where incomes are rising.

“What we do know, and the research is very solid on this, is that when people in emerging markets have a little bit more cash the first thing they do not spend it on is the Rolex. What they spend their improved “wealth” on is food,” she said.

“They’re going for better-quality food and they will definitely go for animal protein if they can.

“China, Brazil, India and Nigeria are massive populations and huge markets. In India, people were eating about five grams of animal protein a day in 1960. By 2017 it had grown to 15 grams - a threefold increase across 1.3 billion people. Now of course, religion can affect dietary choices as beef is not the primary animal protein consumed in India. But what this data does show is that across the board, across emerging markets, animal-derived proteins are increasing partially due to being able to afford it a little better, but also its nutritional improvement and impact on growth and development.”