The start

The Danish Meat Research Institute has nearly 50 years experience in research and development activities within meat and slaughter technology. This has provided a knowledge, which has been achieved through many years close contact with the Danish industry.

The Danish Meat Research Institute was officially opened 15 October 1954. The establishment was financed with money from the war – partly money due from pre-war bacon supplies to England and partly government finances from the Marshall support.

The Institute was, from the first day, owned by the industry organisation of Danish slaughterhouses and thus by the Danish pig and cattle producers. Strong characteristics, then as now, are the close connections with the meat industry and thus the will and wish to alter the activities according to the requirements of the industry. This makes the Institute special compared to most other meat research institutes.

Working areas

During the Institute’s first years the largest proportion of the work was related to the bacon area. Canning technology, mainly related to canned hams for the USA, was also an early activity in the Institute’s work.

In the 1960ies there was an increasing focus on factory planning, as many cooperative slaughterhouses extended or rebuilt their facilities then. However, meat quality and the combat of pig diseases were also growth areas.

In the start of the 70ies the development of electronic carcass classification and weighing equipment started. In the mid 70ies machinery testing and development came onto the programme. In the late 70ies the interest of the pig producers in improved meat quality by using cross breeding increased, and the Institute became involved in the development of methods to document the quality.

The start of the 80ies saw the beginning of the work dealing with taint analysis of intact male pigs and CO₂ stunning also came onto the programme. In the late 80ies the interest was increasingly focused onto pathogenic bacteria and food safety – areas that are still a main theme in the industry’s strategy.

In the 90ies came new quality concepts i.e. animal ethics, organic production and traceability, and from the middle of the 90ies automation of the slaughter and boning processes received increasing attention.

Cooperation

In addition to the contact to the Danish meat industry, the Institute has always had a broad network with research institutions in Denmark and internationally, both with meat research institutes and in other areas. This has ensured the knowledge supply, which is necessary to complete the projects successfully. During the 90ies the Institute has had a major benefit from the Danish government’s food technological research and development programme, which was designed also to strengthen the cooperation between public research and industry. Internationally, cooperative research projects were also started as part of the large EU research programmes in the 90ies. Most recently, the Institute has agreed with Swedish Meats about taking care of their research and development activities.

Consultancy activities

Consultancy services have from the start been an important element in the Institute’s activities. The area provides the Institute with a useful interaction between general development activities for the industry and direct practical solutions of problems for individual companies in Denmark and abroad. Impulses from consultancy activities can be beneficial for the industry, and results from development projects can be useful when solving consultancy problems. From 1996, the consultancy area has operated as an independent unit under the name DMRI Consult.