By Andrea Hargraves 
One of the biggest challenges for anyone who works or wants to work with healthy food is turning food into something delicious. That’s why they invented coxinha, veet kebbeh, diet burger, etc. And the food, really “real food”, has few options. Even worse, when a person is on a diet and cannot even look at chicken, eggs, and sweet potatoes. Do you have another option?
Yes, there is, and it’s much closer than you think. wide field And the São Gabriel de Oeste It is the headquarters of a slaughterhouse and an ostrich farm respectively. In all, the country slaughters 3,500 heads each year, producing fillets, baits, medallions, necks, and even ground beef, plus the latest novelty for those who don’t need a snack at the end of the day: the ostrich burger.
Whoever finds food available on supermarket shelves and vegetables in the capital of Mato Grosso do Sul, for example, will find “very red” meat, which is difficult to determine whether it contains fat or not. According to experts, this is one of the main factors that distinguish
“Meat is completely different from beef, when it comes to nutritional aspects. It contains much less fat than beef and is therefore light. It is also high in iron, it contains three times more iron than conventional meat and hormones are not used in its composition. With a low percentage of waste in the body, so it is a meat that a person does not regret eating.” Dietitian and businesswoman in the health food industry, Anna Paula Marton.
Growing concern about high-quality foods
Currently, according to the nutritionist, there is a growing concern about eating healthy foods, thinking not only of satisfying hunger, but also eating something of high nutritional quality.
“Ostrich meat is precisely an option for this reason, because it contains unsaturated fats, as opposed to saturated fats which have been linked to increased cardiovascular disease. If a person, in this case, associates this with eating a low amount of fiber, it is an option,” Marton explained. Great for those looking to lower cholesterol.
Nutrition student Camila Santana Pereira, 19, studies the nutritional properties of ostriches. She even chose this topic for the college’s TCC (completing the course) and introduced meat, to each of her 25 classmates and professors, in the area of nutrition style. “It’s great meat, has more iron and that’s why it’s so red. We’ve been talking a lot about it lately and have made stroganff, ground beef and hamburgers on the grill. It was all very interesting and we talked about omegas and even ostrich oil and he commented.
The chef has been working with an ostrich for 6 years and says that meat can even be eaten raw
Chef Daniel Pereira Barbosa, owner of HOUS gastronomy Now in Minas Gerais, he’s been working with ostrich meat for six years. “It’s the meat of a prehistoric animal, so it’s free of protozoa. And one of the most important points is that you can even eat it raw. It’s the second least meat in the world, so for those on a diet, there’s nothing better than that. It’s succulent and a little fat, so anyone who wants to try it would be something similar to beef steak,” he explains.
When dealing with meat, Daniel points out that it’s “very light and similar in color to beef, as well as in texture and flavor,” however, it can’t be done well because it’s dry, mainly because it doesn’t have much flesh. “The ostrich has a long, open fillet and a fan slice, which is the back of its thigh. We can make the most varied dishes with this animal, one of which is lime served in marrow, ostrich neck with polenta, stroganoff and medallion, for example,” he comments.
But an ostrich burger, bought ready-made and seasoned, requires little more than fire and “a little olive oil.” Then the person increases the snack the way he wants or finds it healthier. Recent research by the University of São Paulo USP (University of São Paulo) compared the calorie, fat, cholesterol, protein and iron content of every 100g of prime meat consumed in Brazil. And guess which one is more correct?
| Ocean | Calories | Fat | cholesterol | Proteins | iron |
| ostrich | 101 calories | 1.8% | 36 mg | 19.0% | 3.2 mg |
| chicken | 190 calories | 7.4% | 89 mg | 28.9% | 1.2 mg |
| female pig | 212 calories | 9.7% | 86 mg | 29.3% | 1.1 mg |
| ox | 211 calories | 9.3% | 86 mg | 29.9% | 3.0 mg |
Entrepreneur brought ostriches to MS and became one of the largest producers in the world
For those who cried on the farm in the ’90s, not knowing what to do with the animals, entrepreneur Bivita Manuel Assunço, 72, can say he’s built a very successful track. In 1995, when he was in Zimbabwe, Africa, he learned about the entire production process and returned to Brazil with 10 pairs of ostriches.
Born in the Paraná countryside, he went straight to the municipality of São Gabriel do Oeste, 137 kilometers from Campo Grande. Upon his arrival, he sought to innovate with the creation of these animals, mixing them with sheep. After a while, he went to the capital to get acquainted with the slaughterhouse, study it, try to adapt it and start slaughtering ostriches there.
MS Ostrich is distributed to 19 states from the EU to China
Since the 1990s, customers have expanded and “Sio Pevita”, as it is known, generates about 100 jobs and sends products to 19 Brazilian states. The businessman says that he is in the process of expanding his business and looking for new markets, including abroad. To China, for example, he was already exporting even before the epidemic arrived.
“It’s a rural activity that we started in small areas, and with a lot of pilgrimages, it became a big business. Anyone who knows, knows how healthy ostrich meat is, with half the cholesterol of chicken. Comparing beef, pork and chicken too. It wasn’t easy at first, But I insisted and today we are the largest farm outside Africa and one of the three largest in the world,” said the entrepreneur.
According to Piveta, the process includes the entire production chain: eggs – hatching – growth – selection for reproduction – fattening and slaughter. “All this provides better meat and we still have tanning leather to make bags and accessories. We also sell the feathers to the north and north-east of the country, as well as to large centers like São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. They are sent to Rio Grande do Sul and Minas Gerais, for example, Where the knives are made, they are sent directly to the cutlery,” he explained.
However, things were not always so simple. In addition to Piveta, hundreds of other producers tried to work at the same branch in Mato Grosso do Sul, but gave up. “A lot of people said they had nothing to do with this meat here. But we continued to eat lean and very safe meat and we won, despite our very difficult moments,” he said.
In addition to hamburgers, which are the latest in the industry, Bivita highlights the benefits of ostrich oil, which he sells in capsules and carries with him daily, in a cereal box he jokes about as the “golden bowl.”
Specialists who have studied the benefits of ostrich oil are numerous and can be used for cooking. The capsules contain omega 3, 6, 7 and 9. A person can also take about three a day and see benefits such as improved appearance of nails, skin and hair, as well as improved heart and autoimmune functioning. Diet and prevention of cardiovascular disease.
That is, the benefits of the ostrich are many. And you, have you tried it or thought about it and proven it? Tell the experience media.
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