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The Manitoba Co-operator | March 14, 2013
Waiter! There’s a giraffe in my kudu African meat delicacies contain genetic surprises Johannesburg / Reuters
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n l y t h re e d a y s a f t e r being told their hamburgers may in fact be donkey or water buffalo, South Afr ican meat lovers have been dealt another blow: biltong, the fabled dried-meat snack, may not be as “wild” as many packets suggest. Acting on a hunch — and four years before Europe’s horsemeat scandal broke — researchers at the University of the Western Cape tested 1 4 6 b i l t o n g s a m p l e s f ro m m a j o r re t a i l e r s a n d s m a l l butchers from across South Africa. All packets labelled ‘beef ’ were found to be correct but 90 per cent of biltong sticks supposedly made of kudu — a large, curly horned antelope — were actually horse, pork, beef, giraffe or even kangaroo. “It started with curiosity and suspicion because one
piece of dried meat looks like another,” researcher Maria Eugenia D’Amato from the university’s DNA Forensics Lab told Reuters. “We initially tested a few samples and the results were shocking so we decided to formalize the research.” Furthermore, zebra biltong was found to contain meat from the mountain zebra, a species threatened with extinction. Biltong, air-dried strips of meat made from wild game o r a n i m a l s re a re d o n t h e country’s 10,000-plus wildlife farms, is staple fare for South Africans, who regard it as a healthy, low-fat snack. Research released recently f o u n d t h a t d o n k e y, w a t e r buffalo and other unconventional ingredients had been found in almost two-thirds of hamburgers and sausages tested in Africa’s largest economy.
Two mountain zebras graze at their breeding ground outside Cape Town. Although this species is considered endangered, its meat is showing up in the African delicacy biltong. PHOTO: REUTERS
Taller children through better crop rotation Addition of legumes spreads ‘mantle of green’ across the country Staff
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esearchers at Michigan State University crop rotation with legumes and other soil-management practices have increased Malawian crop yields by 50 to 200 per cent compared to monoculture. Trials at one village have been so successful that children have gained weight and height to the point where they now meet international norms for healthy children. MSU ecologist Sieglinde Snapp described the initiative’s success at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Feb. 14-18 in Boston. She said crop model simulations, long-term field trials and on-farm experimentation highlight which combinations of legumes, cereals and soil management are best at using resources efficiently. Rotating corn with pigeon pea mixtures (a shrubby legume) keeps the soil from being stripped of nutrients, such as nitrogen, while increasing nutrient-rich grain productivity. “Participatory action research combined with access to new seeds of bushy food legumes has helped spread a mantle of green across the countryside and help achieve greater food security,” Snapp said in a release. “There have been notable gains in dietary diversity and increased child health in hundreds of farm communities of Northern Malawi — a truly sustainable project.” Corn yields increased from 50 to 200 per cent, when comparing rotating crops to monoculture. Soil improvement supported reduced fertilizer use and a 20 per cent improvement in yield stability, supporting communities’ ability to cope with drought.