The Melbourne-based company acquired bone broth company Best of the Bone in August and is currently working to strengthen the supply chain, with plans to co-develop new products later.
“At the moment our main focus is on improving the company’s supply chain, as demand is outpacing our ability to supply the product to the local Australian market, where we are seeing huge demand.” Melrose Health Group CEO Nathan Cheong said NutraIngredients-Asia.
The company is using its liquid filling lines at its Melrose manufacturing facility to speed up production.
Cheong said Best of the Bone has seen 40 percent year-on-year growth in Australia and the overall bone broth market in Australia, according to his estimates, is between $70 million Australian dollars (46 million US dollars) and 100 million Australian dollars (65.8 million dollars).
Bone broth concentrate is the primary source of revenue for Best of the Bone, which also makes functional bone broth-based sauces and juices.
Best of the Bone products are sold in health food stores, Woolworths and independent grocery stores across Australia.
“The Original Bone Broth concentrate formula consists of a bone broth concentrate using beef, thigh bones and joints with no preservatives or artificial ingredients. It’s pure Australian and New Zealand cow bone, water and a little salt.he said.
The concentrates are also available in other versions, such as the turmeric and black pepper version for anti-inflammatory, a mushroom blend, and a probiotic blend.
One way to consume bone broth concentrate, which has a honey-like consistency, is to mix it with water and drink it.
One of the reasons for the growing popularity of bone broth supplement in Australia is that consumers are identifying the products as beneficial to their overall health and gut health.
“Probably the biggest reason is that many people identify this type of product as being beneficial to their overall health, not only from an anti-inflammatory standpoint, but also from a gut health standpoint.”
This stems from the idea of using the whole animal as a source of nutrition.
“People are going back to the way our grandparents, great-grandparents and ancestors before us ate, which is using the whole animal as a source of nutrition.
“They are recognizing that the source of their ill health or the source of their illness is thee diet, because they consume too much ultra-processed foods, sugar, seed oils.
“They are now taking that out of their diet and adding nutritious animal foods that were the basis of our diet many years ago. » he explained.
Trend in health value
Cheong, who also presented the theme “Meat is not the enemy”. How a sustainable food system can exist with animals’, at the Growth Asia Summit, believes that organ meats and red meats are rich sources of multivitamins and proteins respectively.
“The most nutritionally dense foods are animal products, and from a protein perspective, the best place to get protein is red meat. And the most optimal way to get multivitamins and minerals is through organ meats. »he said.
In fact, he believes that some plant-based products are created because it’s fashionable, and less so because of their nutritional value.
“I think there’s a bit of opportunistic marketing and product development around this (plant-based) because they see a trend.
“And they follow this trend without asking themselves if it is better for their health. We don’t even ask the question anymore.
“Some people would say that plant-based products are obviously healthier, but that’s not the case.”he said.
The much-talked-about plant-based diet, he pointed out, has a number of drawbacks.
Indeed, plant-based diets are linked to problems such as low protein bioavailability, ultra-processing and overconsumption of calories, he explained.
“People who follow a plant-based diet overconsume calories because they have to eat a lot of calories to meet their protein needs.
“Also, a lot of protein is bound with phytotoxic chemicals that don’t allow those proteins to be unpacked and then be bioavailable, and so plant proteins are not as bioavailable.
“If you eat processed, plant-based foods, you’re consuming all these extra sugars, seed oils, and other ingredients that are actually bad for your health.” he explained.
Popularity in South Korea, United States
The company plans to expand its bone broth operations in South Korea and the United States, where it sees strong market demand.
In South Korea, bone broth concentrates are commonly consumed as a soup or sauce base.
In the United States, ready-to-drink bone broth in tetrapacks is one of the most popular products.
In Australia, bone broth powder is one of the most popular formats and the company is also planning to create new products in powder form and sauces.
Time, temperature and raw materials are the three main criteria for properly preparing bone broth concentrate, Cheong said.
Indeed, cooking bones for too long could potentially release histamines, which could have a negative effect on the digestive system.
