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More Aussies dining on Skippy
March 12, 2008

Fair game? More Aussies are dining on the national icon

More Australians are dining on kangaroo but most are unaware that the national icon is being wild harvested rather than farmed, according to a new report.

Australia has no kangaroo farms and landholders generally have no management over kangaroos on their properties, yet 65 percent of people believe that kangaroo is either fenced in on farms or free ranging in a similar way to sheep and cattle on large stations.

Based on a national consumer survey of 1600 people, the report by UNSW researchers reveals that kangaroo consumption has risen from 51 percent to 58.5 percent in the past decade.

Around 15 percent of people are regular consumers of kangaroo meat, eating it four or more times per year, while more than 50 percent of people have tried it (33 percent) or are open to trying it (21 percent).

Twenty percent of those surveyed said they refuse to eat kangaroo on principle and less than one percent are non-consumers because they believe it is unhealthy.

Men were marginally more likely to consume kangaroo than women, with 17 percent of men saying they eat kangaroo at least four times per year compared to 12 percent among women (see Table 1).

A higher proportion of women were objectors (28 percent), but of those that had tried kangaroo, 65 percent indicated they would try it again.

Prepared for the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, the report reveals higher demand for kangaroo meat than for other game, with six percent of households buying kangaroo meat at least monthly.

Table 1: Current position on eating kangaroo by gender (n=1599).

Consumption varies considerably across the states (see Table 3). The percentage of medium to high consumers ranged from 21 percent in South Australia and 19 percent in Western Australia to only 9 percent in Queensland. New South Wales had the highest number of objectors (22 percent).

Titled 'Consumer attitudes to kangaroo meat products', it gives a snapshot of current and potential kangaroo meat consumers and identifies markets for the promising products in which kangaroo meat could be used, especially mince, deli meats and pies.

"Kangaroo is the ultimate free-range food," says UNSW's Peter Ampt, one of the report's authors and Manager of the university's FATE program (http://www.fate.unsw.edu.au/). "Consumers are largely unaware that kangaroos are wild harvested, but knowledge that they are isn't a barrier to its acceptance."

Table 2: Percent of consumer segment in State, Household, Age group.
State difference significant at p=.002. Gender differences significant at p<.001.

He says kangaroo meat consumption in Australia is stymied by factors such as a perceived lack of availability, low product visibility in retail settings, and lack of confidence about how to prepare dishes easily for the table.

The report makes recommendations for improving sustainable supply of kangaroo meat/products and improving its market profile.

"The industry needs to generate consistent messages that kangaroo meat is a uniquely Australian resource that is managed through careful harvesting, is humane and sustainable, and is good for the environment," says Mr Ampt.

Kangaroos are harvested from wild populations.

"It also needs to separate itself from current links to culling for pest management that can attract strong emotional responses from the community and creates images of poor quality control."

Mr Ampt says there is growing support among landowners, harvesters, meat processors and regulators to work together to improve the sustainable supply of kangaroo meat/products for market, and a desire to trial different approaches to achieving consistent industry messages and branding."

An encouraging finding is that in most instances consumers who try kangaroo meat like it and would eat it again," Ampt says. "Also encouraging is that most consumers perceive kangaroo to be a healthy meat. Given these findings, and the considerable publicity and emphasis on healthy eating today, there would seem to be ample scope for growing this segment of the market.

Mince and deli meats are the most promising targets for increasing domestic consumption of kangaroo manufacturing meat, says the report.

Of the three products examined in the consumer survey, mince meat has the greatest potential for using kangaroo manufacturing meat. If this market alone was to expand to, say, 2 percent of the beef mince market, it would increase the domestic human consumption of kangaroo manufacturing meat to 80 tonnes per week.

Kangaroo harvest quotas are being met in most Australian states with demand exceeding supply especially for the primal cuts. The report says kangaroo meat retains a role as a pet meat and a low cost high protein export for smallgoods but could emerge as a high quality meat to discerning consumers both domestically and for export.

Media contact: Dan Gaffney 0411 156 015