Big bird kicks out mad cow.

The mad-cow disease currently terrifying European meat lovers has been an unexpected boon for African ostrich meat producers. Suppliers cannot keep up with the demand for ostrich which is described as having a taste and texture similar to that of beef.

Anti-beef scares in Europe brought on by bovine spongiform encephalopathy (mad cow disease), is providing an unexpected boost in the demand for ostrich meat. Producers of the large, flightless birds in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana are being inundated with orders from such diverse European countries as Britain, Italy, France and Denmark.

"We just can't keep up with the orders," said one supplier in Cape Town. "We have been forced to put up prices to try and contain demand." Ostrich steak is now around $8/kg ex-abattoir and rising.

Major producers in the ostrich farming Karoo region - Mosstrich in Mossel Bay and Klein Karoo Cooperative (KKC)- confirm the unprecedented demand.

Mad cow disease is transferred to humans as a variant of the deadly Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. The only effective eradication is the large-scale slaughter of affected herds.

So, how good a substitute for beef is ostrich? "Quite good," says Paris restaurateur Francois Delvincourt. "It is like beef tenderloin, very succulent and tasty, although it is slightly less firm than beef. Of all the alternative meats we serve, I prefer ostrich because the taste is so wonderful. People order it out of curiosity, then they come back for it.

However, talk about ostrich replacing beef on the tables of Europe is for the birds, according to one expert on the matter who says the amount of ostrich meat available is chicken feed.

"It is true that ostrich meat has risen in popularity in Europe since December," says South African agribusiness watcher, Justine Nofal, "but hardly to the point of replacing beef."

Writing in Business Report, Nofal points our that in a good year, South Africa slaughters about 300,000 ostriches, each yielding about 17kg of steak and fillets, bringing the country's entire ostrich meat production to 5,100 tons.

According to the department of agriculture, South Africa exported nearly 5,000 tons of ostrich meat, valued at R156m, last year. In Italy alone, 57m people eat 26kg of beef each, every year, so ostrich meat won't be making a dent in any beef market anywhere.

"Ostrich meat fills a tiny niche market, and no more, in Europe," says Nofal, "It is not the only exotic meat to have gained in popularity since the disease outbreaks: bison, kangaroo and reindeer are finding a ready market too."

She also does not believe that ostrich meat prices will 'skyrocket' because it would be counter-productive "to price ostrich meat out of the market in the short term. This could easily happen because the niche is small, and ostrich does not rule the roost in the exotic meat market."

Marketers would rather take the opportunity to allow more of the rather small target market in Europe to become familiar with the meat at a reasonable price. Says Kobus Goosen, GM of Klein Karoo: "Of course we want prices to increase, but the increases must be sustainable."

Another spinoff in the demand for ostrich meat is the hide. "From the farmers point of view," Nofal reports, "the most profitable ostrich product is the leather. If they start producing more ostriches for the meat, they would also produce more ostrich skins."

Whichever way you look at it, handled correctly, the current state of the meat market in Europe is of benefit to southern African ostrich producers. While the demand lasts they must walk a fine line between making hay while the sun shines, and also using the opportunity of expanding their market with a value-for-money beef alternative.