Gundagai Meat Processors and Gundagai Lamb CEO Will Barton.

MEAT Standards Australia lamb processing functionality is being embedded in Gundagai Lamb’s systems in an Australian first, putting it one step closer to full MSA grading.

At Gundagai Lamb’s recent producer award night last week, GL chief executive officer Will Barton said the operation had the support of a five-year Meat and Livestock Australia’s long-term practice change program.

Mr Barton said the MLA program included ongoing support for producer and agent engagement. It will also allow Gundagai Lamb to embed Meat Standards Australia grading functionality into their systems, paving the way for MSA carcase grading.

The Gundagai Meat Processors plant is the first in Australia to be the first plant to have MSA lamb grading functionality embedded into its systems.

MSA program manager David Packer said the industry has been waiting for the processing technology to allow the MSA grading of lamb.

“This is the final step towards commercialisation and it’s great that a forward-thinking innovative supply chain like GMP’s has taken this final step with industry.

The initiative recognises Gundagai Lamb’s continued commitment to innovation including improvements in traceability, data collection and use of advanced feedback platforms.

Mr Barton said MLA’s acknowledgement of Gundagai Lamb’s proactive approach, and commitment to a long-term program provides certainty and stability for the initiatives to continue, and be enhanced, over the coming years.

Mr Barton said Gundagai Lamb had already done an MSA grading pilot.

“Every carcase that comes through our plant is MSA graded right now, but there is a range of exceptions reporting and other things, which means that not every carcase is eligible to be graded.”

Mr Barton estimated that GL is “50 percent of the way” to implementing full MSA grading onsite.

“We’ve got the ability to get grading outcomes and we’re working on how to incorporate exceptions reporting, which is reporting of individual occurrences or attributes that mean that carcases become ineligible.

“So we can (MSA) grade carcases, that functionality is in place, but what we need to do is that we have all the verification steps in place to track exceptions.”

These exceptions could relate to confirming Property Identification Codes are MSA accredited, animals were not condition score 1 or contained excessive fat or carcase damage.

“We’ve got the information to grade MSA, but there is some systems-based work to do to ensure that we are accurately capturing exceptions with the appropriate integrity.”