MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Project to confirm Magallanes Lamb quality.

Chile's Agriculture Sciences Institute, INIA, and Punta Arenas main abattoir, Frigorifico Simunovic are involved in a seven months project to assess the nutritional quality and content of Magallanes Region lamb.

The project which will demand 120,000 US dollars involves lamb samples from 65 farms which will be slaughtered at Simunovic abattoir and the nutritional information, (fatty content, proteins, minerals, vitamins, etc) passed on to the University of Chile Nutrition and Food Technology Department.

"For this purpose we have divided the region's soils and conditions in three main areas, steppe, intermediate and humid, and the 65 farms have been invited to participate according to where they are located", said veterinarian Ethel Latorre from INIA.

Nicolas Simunovic, Manager of Frigorífico Simunovic revealed that "the European Community, and particularly the French market is demanding we characterize the nutritional content of lamb; the project should help us determine protein and fatty content, calories, all of which will help differentiate Magallanes lamb from the rest".

Mr. Simunovic added that it's basically a "marketing strategy" and mentioned that New Zealand lamb has a reputation of having a high iron content, "that makes it particularly attractive for women consumers since it combats anaemia".

"This is the first in depth project on the subject and actually we're working on from a paper presented by a Magallanes University graduate who did much of the research", indicated Ms. Latorre.

"We expect the project will confirm the nutritional contents and high quality of Magallanes lamb which makes it unique and will also help to achieve better international prices".