Matís has done a project on utilization rate and chemical content of lamb meat and by-products for Íslenskt lamb ehf. and Hafliði Halldórsson is in charge, but the project is funded by the Food Fund.
Due to progress in breeding in recent years, there was a lack of data on the utilization of lamb meat. Utilization rate for lamb was found by deboning the number of lamb carcasses. The carcasses were divided into meat, fat, bones and tendons. In this way, the meat industry receives data for planning and cost and margin calculations.
Extensive chemical analyzes have been carried out on lamb meat, offal and selected organs. Emphasis was placed on the measurements of protein and fat, which determine the energy value, but measurements of water, the total amount of minerals and selected vitamins and heavy metals are also carried out.
Among the interesting results, it can be mentioned that B12 vitamin was found in sufficient quantities to be able to publish information about it under nutrition labels. Measurements were not only made of nutrients, but also of heavy metals, which are considered undesirable substances. The amount of heavy metals in the lamb was not measurable.
Figure 1: Julija Igorsdóttir at the ICP-mass spectrometer used for measuring heavy metals.
Picture 2: Svanhildur Hauksdóttir weighs out a sample of lamb's liver to measure the water content.
