Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Apr 01/02) - The organizers of last month's Banks Island muskox harvest say the carcasses collected will allow researchers to come up with improved methods of handling the meat for the next harvest.

The two-week operation to harvest 550 muskox finished March 19 in Sachs Harbour. Researchers are now performing tests on various cuts from the carcasses to determine what methods of handling the meat produce the best results in terms of tenderness, taste, and quality.

The work is a continuation of a multi-year project of the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation to improve the quality of the muskox for the specialty meat market.

Unlike traditional meat, there is no standardized method of handling muskox for commercial sale. This has resulted in uneven quality, driving the price down and reducing its attractiveness to buyers.

"It's not like there's poor quality, but there is variation, and that's no different than chicken, pork, beef or any meat product -- there will be variation," explains Al Schaefer, research scientist with the Department of Agriculture and Agri-food Canada in Lacombe, Alta. "What we're doing is finding out what the drivers for that variation are, and to use the procedures that make sense to stabilize that."

Schaefer and his team tested a variety of procedures before and after slaughter, including feeding the muskoxen different types of nutrient pellets, and chilling the meat instead of allowing it to freeze immediately, as had been the case in previous years.

At the IRC, Banks Island harvest manager Patrick Schmidt says the harvest numbers were low this year to allow workers to test out some of the new methods.

"The first time around, as with everything, there's always bugs in the process. There was a new techniques in cutting that were tried out, and a bunch of things we did differently this year," he says.

The IRC will still be selling the meat, hides and fur but the main focus of this year's harvest was research, Schmidt says.

Results from the work being carried out by the Lacombe researchers should be available in the coming months, in time for the planned fall harvest of between 1,500 and 2,000 animals.

Agriculture Minister Lyle Vanclief paid a visit to Sachs Harbour on Friday for a tour of the operation.

The following day in Inuvik, he announced his department is coming up with $63,000 for more research on the harvest.