Global demand for sheepmeat continues rising and Australia has high quality products, but maintaining Australia's competitive position cannot be taken for granted.

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Meat Standards Australia (MSA) is an eating quality program for beef and sheep meat, based on extensive consumer research. All meat underpinned by the MSA program has met strict criteria to ensure it meets consumer expectations for attributes of tenderness, juiciness and flavour, and is labelled according to recommended cooking method. 

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MSA and its partners have spent 10 years researching and developing a 'cut by cooking method model' that will reward producers of high-quality meat and help boost the industry's profitability via pricing scales based on objective carcase measurement. 

Technologies have been developed using sheepmeat industry levies to objectively measure meat attributes during carcase processing by assessing intramuscular fat, eye muscle depth and fat cover. This will provide measurable proof of meat quality to customers and create marketing opportunities to increase demand for Australian products. 

Sheep Producers Australia endorses this approach and individual carcase tracking so that producers can receive feedback about lean meat yields and eating quality traits of their livestock. This will not only inform individual producers' decisions, it will support ongoing productivity and profitability improvements for the long-term benefit of the industry as a whole.