010428 Australia Defends Kangaroo Steaks

Sydney - The Australian government defended kangaroo meat against animal rights campaigners who have bought up billboards across Europe to warn consumers off kangaroo steaks.

With sales of kangaroo meat to Europe booming as disease devastates its beef industry, Australian Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Warren Truss, insisted kangaroos were harvested humanely and their meat was safe.

“Claims by animal welfare protesters in the UK that kangaroos are harvested inhumanely and that their meat is unhygienic and unhealthy are completely unjustified and misinformed,” Truss said in a statement.

Kangaroo meat exporters say shipments have shot up around 20% in the first few months of the year following Europe's foot and mouth disease epidemic.

Sales of ostrich, emu and crocodile are also booming as Europeans palates turn to new varieties of meat.

Australian newspapers have reported that animal welfare groups have launched a massive advertising campaign in Britain and Europe, claiming that kangaroos are killed in massive free-for-all culls, and that the meat is unsafe.

Truss said kangaroo meat was lean, with only about two percent fat, and had very high levels of protein, iron and zinc.

Authorities closely monitor kangaroo harvesting, he said, and hunters had to be licensed. Australia kills two million or more kangaroos every year under a government quota system.

Kangaroo populations left uncontrolled may become pests to farmers and ultimately many starve through overpopulation.

The Australian branch of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has criticized the annual cull as an out of control frenzy, and is conducting a new inquiry into cruelty.

Australia sells abroad around five million kg of kangaroo meat a year, and has been exporting kangaroo meat to game-loving European connoisseurs for 35 years, mainly in Germany, France, Belgium and Holland.

A large volume of lower grade product is also exported to Russia, the Balkans, South Africa and China.

Kangaroo meat is eaten as steaks, used in sausages and delicatessen products, and is also used to make hamburgers.

Before kangaroo meat's rediscovery as game for human consumption, most culled kangaroos wound up as pet food.

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