The Dealer listened to a story last week from Professor Paddy Wall of UCD at the IGA beef conference about a white powder currently being trialled by a university and Larry Goodman’s ABP R&D unit.

The powder which will take the form of a protein shake derived from beef could help reduce muscle mass loss in older people. It’s a take on what the dairy side of the house are doing with sports supplements.

Wall said the growth in value of whey supplements means what was once a byproduct of cheese making has for the last few years driven dairy processor profits. It seems the dairy side of the house won’t have it all their own way when it comes to the sports supplement sector.