00:00 Wide,
exterior of Smithfield Market
Porters
moving meat
c.u.
cuts of meat in crate
Meat
hanging in butchers
c.u.
Butcher jointing meat
Legs
of lamb hanging in butchers
Butchers
board promoting meat cuts
Exterior
& sign, University of Bristol
Professor
Jeff Wood and Research Associate, Francis Whittington, at
computer
c.u.
Faces of Prof. Wood & Research Associate
c.u.
Computer Screen showing meat analysis
Wide,
Prof. Wood and Research Associate
Wide,
Cows in field
c.u.
Cow eating grass
Wide,
Sheep eating grass
Medium
wide, Sheep eating grass
c.u.
Cow eating grass
Wide,
Researcher at computer
c.u.
machine placing samples in machine for analysis (sequence)
Guide Voice: This is Smithfield, London’s
famous meat market – fresh meat is a major part of most
people’s diet, but how much thought do any of us give to the
work that goes into bringing this meat to our plate and keeping it
healthy and fit for consumption?
At Bristol University, in the West of England, scientists have
been conducting research into the quality of meat and the effects
of an animal’s diet on the meat we eat. Now these scientists
have proved that the secret of good beef and lamb is very simple
– feed the animals on fresh grass!
The meat has been analysed in the laboratory in order to
establish a scientific basis for what many of us would intuitively
believe to be true – that feeding our animals on grass
produces better quality meat.
00:43 SOT: Professor Jeff Wood, Head of the
Division of Farm Animal Science, University of
Bristol – “There is anecdotal
evidence that cows that have eaten grass have a better flavour and
that the keeping quality, the shelf life of the meat is better,
there’s lots of anecdotal evidence for that but little
objective scientific information and what we’ve done here at
Bristol is we’ve really produced scientific data which shows
that to be the case.”
01:04 Wide,
Geoff Nute, Head of Sensory Research Group, University of Bristol.
Preparing meat for taste test
c.u.
meat being sliced
Wide
of above
c.u.
of meat
c.u.
Geoff Nute
c.u.
meat slicing
c.u.
meat sample being wrapped in foil
c.u.
numbered meat samples being placed in dish
Meat
samples being distributed to tasters
Taster
sampling meat
Computer
screen – taste info being entered
Guide Voice: The most striking finding is that
grass-fed cattle and sheep produce meat that is higher in healthy
omega-3 fatty acids as well as having higher vitamin E content
– this means that the meat also retains the fresh, redder
colour for longer. In addition to being a healthier option the
research also scientifically established that grass fed beef and
lamb tastes better too! The University conducts extensive taste
tests on a regular basis and under scientifically controlled
conditions – the tests actually take place under red light so
that any colour difference in the meat is disguised. The taste
panels regularly return findings that the grass fed meat has a more
intense flavour and less “abnormal” taste.
01:46 SOT: Prof. Wood –
“There are many factors during the production of the
animal and the processing of the meat which will influence the
eating quality of the meat, so we’re looking at all of these
and we’re trying to be objective about the way we measure it
and what we’re trying to do in a nutshell is give information
to producers by means of which they can produce better tasting
eating meat.”
02:11 Exterior,
University of West of England, Applied Science Dept.
c.u.
Faculty of Applied Sciences sign
Gareth
Robinson, Postgraduate Student, placing meat in analysis
cabinet
c.u.
meat being placed in cabinet
Wide,
Gareth closing door and turning to computer
Gareth
at computer
Computer
image of meat showing LUX genes and bacteria distribution
Gareth
Robinson
c.u.
computer image showing LUX genes
Guide Voice: At the neighbouring University of
the West of England researchers are also looking at the quality of
our meat and how they can prevent contamination while meat is being
stored, prior to it turning up on our plates. Dubbed
“Bugdeath” their project is aimed at predicting
microbial death during heat treatment on foods.
Scientists at the University have transferred LUX genes, DNA
found in naturally occurring bioluminescence in marine bacteria,
into bacteria, which causes food poisoning, such as salmonella and
listeria. By infecting meat with these bacteria they’re able
to measure the efficiency of heat treatments as a means of
preparing food for safe storage. The bacteria glow brightly when
healthy but the lux genes lose their luminescence when the bacteria
are destroyed.
02:56 SOT: Dr. Vyv Salisbury, Reader in Applied
Microbiology, University of the West of England -
“We’ve built on the work done by other Universities
in other research labs, originally the LUX genes were transferred
from marine organisms into a laboratory strain of E.Coli but here
at the University of West of England we have put them,
subsequently, into a range of different bacteria including
salmonella, listeria, streptococcus pneumoniae, which causes
pneumonia and Neiseria meningititis which causes meningitis. We
have the ability, because we have them on what’s called a
plasmid, a little moveable piece of DNA we have the ability to put
them into almost any bacteria that we wish”.
03:39 Gareth
Robinson in darkened laboratory preparing “Bugdeath”
cabinet
Dr
Salisbury with Gareth
LUX
genes glowing on infected meat
Guide Voice: The information gained from this
research will help a range of food producers to design more
efficient means of creating safer storage solutions for our food,
but because the LUX genes can be placed in other forms of bacteria
there is considerable potential beyond the food industry.
03:56 SOT: Dr. Salisbury –
“We would like to move more into the clinical side of
things - we have a strain of meningococus, the bacteria that causes
meningitis that carries the LUX gene and we can actually see how
that crosses a model blood brain barrier to see how that organism
invades the human brain. So for doing that sort of research as well
these LUX genes are very useful.”
04:20 Pan
across field to grazing cattle
Guide Voice: From the field to the table, the
quality of the meat we eat is being protected and improved by the
research being conducted in our Universities.
This material is available for use without restriction for up
to 28 days after the feed date, Tuesday 12 July 2005. For use
beyond this period, please contact Research-TV on +44 (0) 20 7004
7130.
