FANCY a teaspoon of beef collagen with your early morning coffee, or perhaps a 100 percent bull testicle tablet for a quick vitality and virility boost?
Products like these are now being offered to mainstream consumers by brands including Nespresso and Ancestral Nutrition, as part of the unfolding food and wellness trend toward protein-rich, whole foods, reflected by the renewed prominence of meat in dietary guidelines in the United States.
Sabina Kindler
In a presentation to this morning’s BeefUp forum in Morven Qld, MLA’s Sabina Kindler said other examples of the trend included beef mince appearing in retail cabinets blended with liver and heart to boost nutritional value, and a surge in products incorporating bone marrow, beef tallow and collagen as premium-commanding ingredients.
In 2025, the average American household spent nearly US$1000 more on meat than in 2024, she said.
“So we’re just seeing really huge growth across the meat category,” Sabina said.
“Another key driver of that is the demise of the plant based meat category.
“…When you look at restaurant menus in the US, research shows that more restaurants menued meat in 2025 than in recent history, and less restaurants menued plant based meat products than in recent history.”
‘Knowledge without experience is only information’
Rob Pearce
Opening today’s BeefUp forum, South West Region Beef Research Committee chair Rob Pearce, a cattle producer from Ilfracombe, said the BeefUp events provided MLA with valuable insights into producer priorities for research and development, while also giving producers access to the latest information on industry trends and practical research outcomes.
He said that, in his own case, gaining a better understanding of pain relief, and how spike-feeding cows five weeks before calving can influence a calf throughout its lifetime, were among the benefits of engaging in industry research and committees.
“I’ve got a saying that I live my life by, that is knowledge without experience is only information.”
He encouraged producers to make the most of such opportunities, noting they do not come around often at a local regional level.
The forum is being MC’d by Beef Central journalists and Week in Beef Podcast hosts Eric Barker and Lydia Burton.
This morninsg’s sessions also heard updates on pasture dieback, MLA’s Steak and Wood project, reproductive disease control, vaccines and pain relief in practice.
This afternoon’s program includes paddock-to-processor panel sessions, along with agtech and genetics updates.
See below some pictures from today’s forum, and keep an out for more coverage in coming days on Beef Central.
Jed Summerfield, DPI Charleville; Helen McKellar, Booka, Morven and Tim Emery, DPI Roma.
Angus, Riley, David and Louise Winten, Morven.
Kate and Geoff (second from right) Swanson, Connemara, Augathella, with Tim McClymont, Roma Vet Clinic and Rob Pearce, Pearce Pastoral Co, Ilfracombe.
Tony Horvath and Roslyn Ware, Fairview Black Simmentals, Mungalalla.
Forum MCs Eric Barker and Lydia Burton, hosts of Beef Central’s Week in Beef podcast
Arun Philip, Patricia Nolan and Zoe Sibley.
Andrew Doljanin, Nutriment Health and Karissa De Belle, Rabobank Roma.
A paddock to processor panel with Ethan Mooney from Teys, Phil Lambert from Teys Condamine Feedlot and Kenton Peart, Greenstead Grazing, Charleville.
Wayne Hall, QDPI and Bill Schulke, Private Forestry Service Qld, Gin Gin.
Nicole Sallur, DPI Charleville and Sarah Hassall, MLA.
Excellent programme congratulations and when is the next