Ox Gallstones Chile
Gallstones are the primary risk factor for gallbladder cancer. However, most people with gallstones do not develop gallbladder cancer.
There are many factors that increase the risk of developing gallstones. These include age, gender, and a family history of gallstones.
Medicinal Purpose
MONDAY’s gallstone heist at a Southeast Queensland abattoir has prompted some rabid social media commentary, but it doesn’t mean the cattle industry isn’t looking to exploit the potential of this eponymous byproduct.
Unlike artificial or cultured gallstones, these foxy looking gems are actually in demand as a Chinese herbal medicine. In the real world, there are only a handful of countries capable of producing the requisite volume to fill the needs of a small but growing consumer base and, as an added bonus, they are fairly cheap to boot.
A recent study out of Chile that looked at the quality and quantity of this elusive medley has resulted in some interesting findings. For one, the most coveted gallstones are the ones that display the highest level of bio-absorption by a cellular machine. This translates into the ability to bind and digest a variety of food items including lipids, proteins, and fats. This bodes well for a wide range of consumers, from the chomping, snacking type to the more formal supper club set.
Biological Purpose
MONDAY’s article about charges laid against an employee at a southeast Queensland abattoir over the theft of gallstones (click here to view original story) has aroused considerable interest among readers. But the reality is that gallstones are an extremely rare and expensive byproduct of beef processing, and it’s highly unlikely that processors make a fortune from them at the expense of beef producers.
Ox gallstones are a natural byproduct of the bile extraction process on the eviscera table in cattle abattoirs, where they are recovered during the bile duct thrashing procedure to remove the bile from the animal’s gut and liver. They are only retrieved from older slaughter animals, so they represent a small proportion of the meat that is produced and are rarely seen in younger animals, such as yearlings.
The ox gallstones that are found in cattle have a very high medicinal value, especially in Chinese medicine, where they are used to treat a variety of diseases. This is because the ox gallstones are rich in cholesterol and bilirubin, both of which have medicinal properties.
However, the ox gallstones that are found at abattoirs have a very low concentration of these substances, and the majority of them contain calcium bilirubinate instead of cholesterol. This is due to the way ox gallstones are formed in cattle, which are genetically programmed to produce bilirubin during their lifetime.
A significant amount of bilirubin is removed from the blood by the body and is stored in bile, where it is converted to bile acids. The bile acids are then used for the digestion and absorption of nutrients.
Cholesterol is also a key component of the bile acid composition, as it helps to maintain normal levels of these acids in the bile. In addition, bilirubin can play an important role in the formation of cholesterol gallstones.
Using an in vivo murine model, we observed that serovar Typhi was not able to form biofilms on ox gallstones that contained a high concentration of cholesterol. These findings suggest that bacterial biofilms are not essential for the transmission of typhoid fever, and may facilitate a typhoid carrier state that allows the bacteria to persist in the host’s gallbladder.
Nutritional Purpose
MONDAY’S story about charges being laid against an abattoir employee over the theft of gallstones has aroused considerable interest in our reader base. As the story has unfolded, social media has been abuzz with comments about how gallstones can be worth up to $20,000 a kilogram, claiming processors must be making a fortune from the cattle byproduct at beef producers’ expense.
Despite the high-flying claims, nothing could be further from the truth. Natural gallstones are very rare, requiring a lot of animal deaths to harvest even a single metric ton. Nevertheless, they are highly sought after as an ingredient in Asian alternate medicines because of their medicinal value.
While we cannot provide a direct link to any company that specialises in importing these’miracles of nature’, we did find a couple of suppliers and one of the largest dealers in the world is currently looking for supplies of these valuable commodities from Australia. The above mentioned’magic’ is in fact the result of a combination of chemical ingredients and artificially cultured materials. It is no secret that China has a shortage of gallstones and it is therefore used as an ingredient in a variety of proprietary Chinese medicine.
Chemical Purpose
Ox Gallstones Chile are an important chemical byproduct of the bile extraction process at meatworks. They are found in the gall bladders of cattle during slaughter, and retrieved at the abattoir during bile extraction on the eviscera table. They are a major component of the bile that is filtered from the animal’s body before it is shipped off for processing to meet demand in Asian markets.
The value of gallstones has risen dramatically in recent years, with reports that a kilogram of them can be worth as much as $20,000 in some markets. This has been attributed to the short supply of natural gallstones that is required by the Chinese pharmaceutical industry, which requires 100 metric tons (MT) of them each year for the production of proprietary Chinese medicines.
Despite the high market price, there is little evidence to support that they are profitable to processors. A study by Beef Central showed that gallstones are a rare commodity, and the amount of production that Australian plants would need to find just one kilo of them in order to make a profit is far from significant.
Despite these facts, gallstones are still an interesting and lucrative byproduct of the beef industry. They are in great demand in the Asian market, and a recent report that an employee at a southeast Queensland abattoir had stolen them from the meatworks has ignited the interest of many online.
Ox Gallstones Chile
0 Comments