Something Complicated

The Australian kangaroo meat industry flouts the most basic hygiene rules. Dangerous levels of salmonella and EHEC have been found in meat from Kangaroos intended for human consumption, backed up by evidence that the industry does not meet Australian standards that determine the conditions in which animals are harvested, transported and stored. About five years ago Fairfax Media published evidence that supermarket kangaroo meat contained shockingly high levels of e-coli and salmonella. Food Standards Australia and New Zealand have noted a significant increase in cases of food-borne diseases due to the use of animal products.

The Russians have imposed a ban on macro meat, completely stopping the import and export of Kangaroo meat in Russia. A recent Australian Institute of Public Health (AIPH) survey found that only 14.5 per cent of Australians said they ate canapés at least four times a year. It found Australians provide the bulk of the meat, which kills 22 million kangaroo a year, and only 1.2 million of them would behave themselves.

The country’s Department of Environment and Energy said: “The use of kangaroo meat for human consumption for energy production is permitted under the rules that South Australia has had since the 1980s. Although the Australian aborigines have been hunting kangaroo for their kangaroos for many generations, it was not legalised in Australia until the 1970s, other states followed in 1993. It was not until after 1993 that most Australian states legalised kangaroo meat for human consumption, with South Australia becoming the first state to do so in 1980.

In USA, it became illegal in most states to sell kangaroo meat for human consumption only in 1993, the meat has not been imported since. In the 1970s, the US banned the import of meat from Australia and other parts of the world, such as the UK and Canada.

In 2008, the kangaroo meat industry was worth between $250 million and $270 million a year, and in 2016-2017, Australia exported an estimated 3,000 tonnes of kangaroo to other countries, including the United Kingdom. The harvest, processing and export of kangaroo meat remains strictly regulated, with official figures of around 3,000 tonnes per year, with annual exports to more than 60 countries. The Australian kangaroo hunting program is expected to be the world’s largest single source of meat exports and the second largest export market after the US pig farming.

Many Australian supermarkets now carry various pieces of kangaroo, including minced meat. Kangaroo steaks cost between $15 and $20 per kilo, while kangaroo mince sets you back just under $8 per kilo. Nature’s Gift kangaroo fillets are a great example of a high quality, inexpensive and high quality product based on Kangaroo for all those who have to do with fresh meat and little else.

On the other hand, kangaroos are banned in Australia and the animals slaughtered for meat are wild – from the moment they are born, so they can live as they want. Since the meat of Kangaroo wild animals comes from an existing population, we can avoid the low quality of life on traditional farms. In fact, some of it is free-range and organic, which means it has never been farmed, not that there is anything wrong with it.

Kangaroo Meat