NEW PLYMOUTH - Taranaki ostrich farmers Keith and Dell Harvey have become the first in the country to be licensed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry to slaughter and process the big birds.
The couple set up Eggmont Ostriches near Oakura about four years ago and have 700 birds on
the property.
While the operation began as a breeding farm, a year ago it had reached the
point where it was processing its own livestock and selling the meat to a local restaurant.
Being licensed by the ministry offered huge opportunities, especially in the supermarket trade, Mr Harvey said.
Supermarkets wanting to stock ostrich meat had demanded full ministry licensing before they were prepared to take the product. The meat could now be found on the shelves at Woolworths and Big Fresh supermarkets.
Other chains had also expressed interest in selling the meat.
"Being MAF licensed is a big breakthrough because it puts us on the road to looking at export markets like Japan, most of the Asian countries and Europe, where the market is big," Mr Harvey said. "The only trouble is we don't have the birds at the moment."
Between 20 and 30 birds would be slaughtered each week at an abattoir just south of Oakura before being processed by Egmont Venison in Oakura.
Pictured: Big Feed. Ostrich meat is now available at New Zealand supermarkets.
