Tharid ثريد (Sareed)

                                       

Ostrich

Ostrich meat is a “red meat” similar in colour and taste to beef. The meat from an Ostrich comes from the leg, thigh, and back. An Ostrich has NO breast meat like the chicken and turkey.

Even though Ostrich meat tastes like beef, the Ostrich does not have fat marbling in the meat like beef. Ostriches have fat, but it collects outside the muscles and is easily removed during processing. Therefore, the cuts of meat are very lean with very low fat content.

Not all ostrich meat is the same. The quality of ostrich meat is influenced by similar factors that influence the quality of meat from all specie. 

Ostrich meat has no visible fat; either external, or intramuscular. There are three grades of Ostrich meat which define the tenderness of the cuts. The grades always include the same muscles and serve as a guide in preparing the meat.

'AAA' or 'Prime' cuts consist of the five most tender muscles. these are the Top Loin, Tenderloin, Inside Strip, Outside Strip, and the Fan Fillet. These muscles are ideally suited to dry heat cooking methods, such as roasting, broiling, pan frying, or saute. The texture of the muscle fibers varies from cut to cut, but all five are quite tender.

'AA' or 'Choice' cuts consist of the next three muscles. These are the tip, oyster, and the round. While not quite as tender as the 'Prime' cuts, these cuts are quite suitable for roasting or grilling, and are also used in recipes for fajitas, stir frys, or kabobs.

'A' or 'Select' cuts are the least tender cuts from the Ostrich, and should be tenderized before using any of the dry heat cooking methods. 'A' cuts are ideally suited to moist heatcooking, and for cured or smoked products. The two muscles in this category are the Inside and Outside Drum.

In addition to muscles, the liver, heart, and neck are also available. The liver is used in Pate' and Mousseline. The heart can be prepared like a beef heart. The neck can be used instead of Ox tail in soup. Ground Ostrich crumbles when cooked, so the use of a binder, such as egg whites or bread crumbs, is advised when making meatballs or Salisbury steak.

Finally, there are two things to remember when cooking with Ostrich:

1. Ostrich meat has such little fat, that it cooks faster than beef. When using dry heat methods, cook the meat until it is medium-well done to avoid drying it out. Ostrich, like beef, can also be served rare.

2. Ostrich meat accepts flavor additives readily, so it is necessary to cut back on seasonings. Never marinade Ostrich meat with any other meat. Ostrich meat will pick up and amplify any flavor that comes in contact with it.

Ostrich meat is the 'red meat' for the 21st Century. As you work with it, you will discover that there is nothing that cannot be done with it.

Ostrich Steak

Ostrich Meat has a very low fat content and for this reason, it is best to cook over a high heat to seal the meat, then reduce heat and cook as a Beef Steak according to the cut.

The fillet is wonderful just cooked on its own to appreciate the full natural flavour. The great thing about fillet is that it can be cooked to your taste, and can even be eaten raw (as Carpaccio) so a little pink in the middle is ideal and will maximise your enjoyment of this product. Over cooking to very well done will ruin the steak and convert it to leather in the same way overcooking to very well done will do for any meat!

Ostrich Steaks are excellent with your favourite marinade, with cranberry jelly or redcurrant sauce being particularly good.

Cooking times will always depend on the thickness of the steak, but as a guide: Fry for approx. 3 minutes per side – check during cooking with a knife by cutting open slightly. If grilling under a gentle heat, cook for approx. 6 minutes each side and check with a knife as per above.

Ostrich burgers
Fry in a little light oil, dripping or butter or grill under a low heat according to personal choice. Ensure the burger is cooked all the way through but try not to over cook, particularly if using a grill as they will ‘dry out’. The meat needs to be just brown.

Cooking times: Fry for approx. 6 – 8 minutes each side and check during cooking by slightly opening the burger with a knife or cook until the burger can be broken on one side with tongs.  Again the actual cooking time will depend on thickness of the burger.

Ostrich Roast
The larger leg muscles are excellent for roasting as the weekend joint or even a mid-week treat, cold or hot! We recommend a roasting bag to contain the juices and prevent the meat from drying out. Centralise the meat in the roasting bag, do not pierce the bag, place on a tray in the preheated oven and cook as the instructions below.

Cooking times: Cook at a temperature approx. 150°C for 45 minutes per kg + 20 minutes. Reduce cooking temperature by approx. 20°C if using a fan-assisted oven. Check the product is cooked to your satisfaction as you would with any other joint.

Other Uses
Other ideas for ostrich meat include cubes for Goulash, mince for Bolognaise, stir-fry for Chinese and anyway for your favourite Indian recipes!

Introduction For  bigger point of veiw

1. Age of Birds

a. Influence of Age on Meat Quality
It is a well-established fact that the older an animal the tougher the meat. For this reason main stream livestock industries have established grades and/or names to account for the age of the animal. They have also established means for determining the age of the animal. Depending on the specie it may be by teeth development, degree of bone ossification or similar. Provided the animal meets the basic health criteria all meat is fit for human consumption, with different ages having different uses, different markets and therefore different price structures.

b. How to Identify and Verify Age in Ostrich
Having no teeth, ostrich can be aged according to feather development and/or bone ossification. However, there is insufficient data available to verify that feather development and/or bone ossification may be used as an accurate method to determine bird age at this time. Since there are significant variations in bird rearing methods and nutrition this results in a wide variation of feather development and possibly bone ossification for birds of same age. Thus, these methods are unreliable at this time and need further studies.

To date there has only been one study carried out on age identification by bone ossification. There will need to be many more studies carried out to provide sufficient data to be able to determine the accuracy of this method for age evaluation in Ostrich.

Therefore at this time the only method to verify the true age of Ostrich is through verifiable farm recording systems.

2. Farm Management

It is well known that range grazed cattle or sheep produce a different quality meat than their feedlot raised counterparts. However, the main reason for the differences in meat quality, uniformity of carcass and taste is nutrition based as the diets fed vary significantly between the systems.

a. Farm Systems
Most range grazed cattle or sheep these days will be fed vitamin and mineral supplement feeds which vary from a few vitamins and/or minerals to protein, energy and vitamin and mineral supplements that are balanced to match the estimated intake of the grazed material. The more intensive the system, the greater the control of a balanced feed intake, therefore the greater degree of high meat quality predictability. The variations in carcases and meat quality are taken care of by the carcass and meat grading systems and yield grading systems in place for the relevant specie. Similar variations are seen with Ostrich dependent on the management systems used.

b. Stress
It will affect meat quality by affecting meat characteristics. Also trauma or any accidents (farm design, fences, spaces, adverse bird handling and other stress related factors) may cause Oedema or “jelly” substance on heart, thigh or sternum which will affect carcass grade.

c. Vaccination program, antibiotics and hygiene
Any evidence of disease symptoms in a carcass will affect its grade. Observing proper withholding times after vaccination and antibiotic injections is important to avoid residue in meat after slaughtering.

Biosecurity and other techniques of preventive veterinary procedures are important to avoid diseases and parasites affecting meat quality.

3. Nutrition

The influence of Nutrition on meat quality is well documented and never disputed with all specie. Advanced nutritionists will tell you that the basics of livestock nutrition are the same for all specie – the skill comes in identifying the unique requirements and tolerances as they apply to each specie. Increasingly discerning consumers, the influence of the globalisation of agriculture, the increasing influence of supermarkets and marketing chains looking for absolute consistency have seen significant developments, over the last thirty years, in nutritional technology being used as a mechanism to improve meat quality. Taste, Tenderness, Aroma, Colour and Uniformity are all affected by nutritional factors. This improved technology is also known to decrease drip loss and to extend shelf life through control of colour on oxidation, resulting in improved overall customer acceptance, to give significant commercial benefits.

Slow growing muscles will be less tender than an animal that grows muscles more quickly. It is important to differentiate between nutrition that “forces” certain factors that may be considered “against nature” as opposed to “quality nutrition” that enables the specie to develop naturally to the full genetic potential. The economic benefits to producers for achieving greater meat yields and earlier slaughter ages are also well documented in all specie as being controlled by nutrition.

In all other production livestock specie an animal carrying white fat is recognised as being healthier and that it produces a better tasting meat. Fat production and quality is totally controlled by diet. The reason often given for this not being considered an issue with Ostrich has been the thought process that as there is little or no marbling in the meat therefore yellow fat will not influence meat taste. This in fact is not true since fat quality is an indicator of imbalanced rations that are deficient in certain nutrients at the correct levels or are not in balance to each other. Imbalanced rations affects the formation and degradation of minerals and vitamins in liver and kidney causing yellow fat, possible tainting of the meat and will also result in less acceptable quality offal.

Other factors that “taint” the meat are the use of certain ingredients in rations. For example the use of fish meal in rations for slaughter animals can leave a “fishy” taste and it is well known that Ostrich are sensitive to iron, so use of ingredients with high iron content can taint the meat to give a livery taste.

Stress is always a factor in meat quality. Stress can come in many forms and nutritional stress can be a factor all on its own. A bird can suffer undue stress if fed an improper diet. As poor feeding or imbalanced diets affect the immune system, the bird will be much less tolerant to diseases and other types of stress, which also can have a major affect on meat quality.

Handling and Slaughter

4. Handling Prior to Slaughter

Minimising stress at all stages of production is continually emphasised and extremely important as it is associated with DFD (Dry Firm Dark) meat and long term stressed animals result in high pH levels in the meat. However care needs to be taken to ensure that the method an animal has been raised has been taken into consideration as diet also impacts on both the consistency of the meat as well as the ability of an animal to handle stress.

Ostrich are generally brought to the slaughter plant the day prior to slaughter. Every effort needs to be made to ensure as stress free transport as possible. It is important that they have water available and protection from the elements. It has been suggested that birds should stand for a few days to recover. However this suggestion needs to be thought through very carefully:

It is well known that Ostrich do not like change of environment and can take some time to settle and start eating well so holding the birds for a few days will not reduce that stress factor and may in fact aggravate the effects of long term stress. In addition the commercial implications are significant. Holding pens for anything more than overnight would have to be very much larger than is the norm at slaughter plants as birds held for a few days would require 3 or 4 times the area, plus there are cost implications for looking after birds. As birds take time to settle and start eating there will inevitably be some additional weight loss thereby causing loss of revenue, whilst probably aggravating the stress factor. Some independent studies have confirmed that slaughter aged birds do not begin to regain lost body weight back for 3-4 weeks after a move of significant distance and being held in a strange environment.

Slaughter plants in South Africa have reported very significant improvements in pH levels, to below the critical 5.8 level as a result of changes in handling in the lairage and immediately prior to stunning. This is achieved by employing staff that are very quiet and calm with the birds. This is particularly relevant since most published reports currently available referencing Ostrich suggest that Ostrich carry higher than acceptable pH levels, when these slaughter plants have now proved this information to be incorrect and misleading.

5. Slaughter Techniques

Only one official study has been carried out on different methods of stunning Ostrich. As this did not cover all systems in use it is of little value without further follow up studies. The main focus of this particular study was recording the degree of unconsciousness at bleed out rather than impact on meat quality.

Factors that influence meat quality during the slaughter process are:

§  Method of Stunning and/or Kill

§  Handling of Birds post stunning/kill

§  Whether bird is Killed prior to Bleeding or stunned prior to bleeding

§  Speed and degree of Bleed Out

§  Muscle Stimulation post stunning (now believed to have a negative impact on quality)

To date there have been no published studies carried out on the impact of different techniques on meat quality and therefore it will be the responsibility of each slaughter plant to investigate thoroughly the options available, remembering at all times that minimising stress must be a consideration.

Note: Electrical stunning is accepted for OSTRICH slaughtered Halaal under Islamic rules and CAN be stunned prior to bleeding.

6. Cold Chain During Slaughter and Processing

The influence on meat quality of maintaining the cold chain during slaughter and processing is bacterial. The faster the carcass is chilled, the greater the ability to control bacterial growth and therefore extend the shelf life from a bacterial viewpoint. Some slaughter plants have all activities on the same floor – EU and some other country regulations specify that slaughter, defeathering, deskinning and evisceration are all carried out in separate sections to minimise risks of cross contamination. When these operations are separate, the cooling down process usually commences with the deskinning. This also has the advantage that the carcasses have cooled considerably by the time they enter the Chiller.

It is the general aim to chill the muscles to below 4degrees centigrade prior to deboning, with processing carried out with sufficient speed that the muscle temperatures do not rise above 4 degrees centigrade before returning to the Chiller or being blast frozen.

Insufficient work has as yet been carried out on the impact of hanging time on meat quality. In order to achieve accurate data on this, the rearing method would also need to be known.

With Ostrich, there has been a certain amount of “on farm “processing. [3] It is extremely important that those producers processing birds on farm do so with the correct facilities in place if selling to the general public and do not simply process in their kitchen. Without the necessary controls for temperature and hygiene, the risks are too great.

Storage, Distribution And Display

7. Storage and Maintenance of the Cold chain

This area is one of the toughest areas to control in view of the fact that the distribution chain requires dependency on freight haulers and is out of the direct control of the processor. Airlines will provide no guarantees. Certain truckers will turn off their refrigeration to “save” on fuel. The meat may take time to put into the display cabinet and so on. It is well documented that bacteria growth increases rapidly once the temperature of the meat rises above 4 degrees centigrade. In Europe if the meat temperature exceeds 4 degrees centigrade it is no longer allowed to be sold.

8. Storage and Display Life

There are many methods of storing and packaging and these will influence the quality. Individual companies will need to investigate the best methods available to them for the particular market that they are serving and what is available to them in their own region.

It is important to know that Ostrich meat has had a particularly poor reputation for darkening and/or developing black spots on oxidation. While there are certain aspects in processing that can assist in preventing this, it needs to be understood that the nutrition qualities of the diet fed to any animal has a direct impact on the quality, colour and display life of the meat. If adequate nutrients are provided in the diet, this can have a significant and positive impact on the meat quality, colour and display life which has been proven to be as effective in Ostrich meat production as with other red meat specie.

9. Method of Display

Meat can be displayed either frozen, fresh packaged or fresh in display cabinets with no packaging. Frozen clearly provides the greatest shelf life so long as the display freezers are maintained at the correct temperatures. The method of packaging can influence the shelf time of display when packaged. The method of packaging can also have a significant impact on display shelf life with the displays without packaging probably having the shortest shelf life. The meat should have a similar shelf life to other meats if:

§  Temperatures are maintained correctly to minimise bacterial growth

§  Slaughter techniques have been correct to minimise stress

§  The pH levels are correct

§  Bacteria contamination has been kept to a minimum

§  The cold chain has been maintained

Worthy of note is the influence of meat colour on consumer acceptability. It has been stated that by preventing loss of colour and by increasing shelf life by 1-2 days would save the US industry $175 million to $1 billion (US) annually. As a result of the commercial benefits to the retailer, US Beef producers are paid a premium when producing beef using technology to achieve this. This same technology is effective with Ostrich production and overcomes the current consumer resistance to the dark colour of much of the Ostrich meat currently produced.

Hygiene

10. Hygiene at all stages

Bacterial growth could probably be considered the No. 1 enemy to extended meat life and maintaining quality. HCCP – Hazard Critical Control Points – systems are compulsory now in many regions – but whether or not they are compulsory, a good HCCP system should be implemented as part of a quality control program. All points of possible bacterial contamination need to be identified at all stages of the slaughter and processing procedure. Controlling the pH levels of the meat, as well as correct maintenance throughout the cold chain, is instrumental in controlling bacterial growth. It is worth noting that meat must be free of pathogenic organisms (salmonella for example) and their toxins.

References

Vaccination of birds is not yet approved by some countries. It is important that you check with your own veterinarian as to what is permitted in your country.

For further information please contact:
Professor Hesham Khalifa
Prof. of Animal Physiology,
Dept. of Animal Production,
Faculty of Agriculture,
Al-Azhar University,
Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt

Ostrich Leather

The feathers of an Ostrich ensure the unique characteristics of Ostrich Leather.

The size and character of these follicles will vary with stage of development, genetics and method of rearing. The weight and thickness of the skin will also be determined by method of production and age of slaughter.

Anything that can be made in leather can be made in Ostrich, it is limited only by the imagination of the designers.

Ostrich leather provides designers with unique opportunities unavailble in other leather sources.

Ostrich Feathers

Ostrich feathers were responsible for the birth of farmed Ostrich and saved the specie, as Ostrich were on the point of extinction just for their feathers.  The domestication of Ostrich started  to satisfy the demand for feathers. The domestication of Ostrich stopped the hunting of ostrich threatened with extinction. Drawings and carvings indicate the Ancient Egyptians and Romans used Ostrich feathers for formal dress.

The industry collapsed at the outbreak of the First World War.  The primary reason was the stopping of all trade shipping, which left it impossible to service the markets.  This combined with the advent of the motorcar and a change in fashions.  Prior to the collapse, feathers were extremely valuable creating great wealth.  It was the 4th largest export from South Africa by value after Gold, Diamonds and Wool.

The feather market reawakened after the Second World War and has steadily grown since that time.  However, the demand for the Leather drove the main growth of the industry since the Second World War.  Further development of the feather market is limited by the limited and irregular supply.  In value, feathers are less than 5% of the total value of the slaughter bird.

Feathers today are harvested from slaughter birds after slaughter.  In South Africa there are adult birds maintained especially for the quality of their feathers.   These feathers are taken from the breeders by clipping where there is no blood in the quill (similar to cutting toe and finger nails).  

Ostrich Oil

The wonderful oil of ostrich comes from rendering their. There is anecdotal evidence of the benefits of their wonderful oil in providing relief from certain skin irritations and other discomforts such as:

* Sunburn
* Blisters
* Dry Skin
* Psoriasis
* Skin Cuts
* Bed Sores
* Skin Burns
* Chapped Lips
* Canker Sores
* Sore Muscles
* Skin Abrasions
* Radiation Burn Relief

As production increases, it will be possible to verify this evidence with full scientific studies.

Most animals have some method for fat storage that can be used in times of stress such as illness, support high production or handle weather extemes. Ostriches main Fat Reserve that they can easily draw from when requifing additional energy at times of stress,is located on their belly.  From a commercial viewpoint this is easy to recover – see illustration below.The best quality oil is recovered from a fat pan that is pure white in colour.