First beef enriched with omega-3 fatty acids to be released in mid February

Jim Drouillard, professor of animal sciences and industry, developed a technique that enriches ground beef with omega-3 fatty acids. The enriched ground beef is named GreatO Premium Ground Beef and is being sold through Manhattan, Kansas-based company NBO3 Technologies LLC. It will be available mid-February at select retailers in Buffalo, New York, and expand to leading retailers and restaurants in the United States this year.

The health benefits of omega-3s are not limited to humans. Studies show that dairy and beef cattle with an enriched diet of flaxseed and other omega-3 rich grains have fewer respiratory diseases. The cattle also have higher fertility rates, which helps offset infertility among dairy cattle.

The technology to enrich ground beef with omega-3s is a spinoff of flaxseed research Mr Drouillard began in 1998. With his students, Mr Drouillard studied flax for several of its omega-3 fatty acids that may suppress inflammation and reduce diabetes in cattle. Research showed that omega-3 levels dramatically increased in the cattle as more flaxseed was introduced into their diet.

Keeping the omega-3s from becoming saturated fats in cattle's digestive system is a challenge, however. Microorganisms in the rumen -- the largest chamber in the cow's stomach -- modify most of the ingested fats and turn them into saturated fats. This causes ground beef to have low levels of omega-3s. Christian Alvarado Gilis, a doctoral candidate in animal sciences and industry, is researching how to improve omega-3 levels in cattle diets to further enhance the fat profile of beef. According to Mr Drouillard, substituting omega-3 fatty acids for saturated fats does not change the ground beef's flavour.

"Knowing that there are a lot of desirable flavour characteristics associated with the fat in beef, we performed tons of sensory panel tests with Kansas State University's meat science faculty and with the department of human nutrition throughout the years to ensure that the flavor is not compromised," Drouillard said. "We found that our panelists were never able to detect appreciable differences in the flavour profiles of the omega-3 rich beef and non-omega-3 beef, even though the fats are quite different."

The owners of NBO3 Technologies LLC have worked closely with Mr Drouillard in developing the concept, and after more than a decade of research on improving the enrichment process, have started to distribute omega-3 enriched ground beef to retailers and food vendors.

The ground beef is part of the company's line of omega-3 enriched foods, which includes pork, chicken, cheese, milk, butter and ice cream. It will be the first groundGirls Air Jordan 1