SUPPLY CHAIN IN MARKET SUPPORTING GROWING DEMAND TOMORROW’S RESEARCHERS The next generation of undertaking postgraduate studies the red meat industry’s (mostly PhDs) for the three years of researchers are receiving their candidature. a kick‑start through MLA’s MLA Program Manager Dr Nigel scholarship program. Tomkins said the scholarship program is MLA invests in building industry capacitydesigned to ensure the next generation through scholarship and study awards,of R&D providers is in place. as well as supporting career progressiond “We want to make sure we have byembedding postgraduate stuents int people in the system who are capable researc projecs.h researchers and who can deliver good On completion of their studies, morescience,” he said. ■ than 70% of students supported by this scheme continue to work within the redDr Nigel Tomkins meat and livestock industry. E: ntomkins@mla.com.au MLA recently signed off on eight new mla.com.au/scholarships scholarships to support students Fingerprinting beef She’s involved in an MLA project to verify premium grassfed Australian beef using non‑invasive and non‑destructive Raman spectroscopy technology (also used for forensic and pharmaceutical applications) to analyse the chemical make‑up of beef in real‑time during processing. “The fat composition of grassfed beef is different from beef produced in other systems, so we can use this fat profile to determine what the animal has been fed,” Steph said. This will provide a chemical fingerprint One of MLA’s 2019 which could help the Australian scholarship recipients, industry authenticate the quality of Dr Steph Fowler, is their product and maintain export using forensic testing to verifymarket access. grassfed beef. “By giving processors an authentication Steph (pictured), a researcher basedtool, it becomes easier for producers to get involved in certified grassfed with the NSW Department of Primarysupply chains,” she said. Industries Meat Research Team at the Cowra Agricultural ResearchSteph’s interest in this work grew and Advisory Station, is developingout of her PhD research, which was a solution to protect the integrity oflooking at a different version of beef in the face of food fraud andthe Raman technology to assess consumer demand for quality. lamb quality. ■ 38