Jumping At Opportunities
Auckland University dietetic student Daniel Bahg started his placement with Beef + Lamb New Zealand during the COVID-19 lockdown. He shares his thoughts on his time with us.
When I was told that as part of my Dietetic programme we have the opportunity to attend public health placements, I jumped at the opportunity to get involved in a food industry and public health setting. Dietetic work in the food industry has interested me since starting my five year journey at University, and this was my chance to experience it first-hand at Beef and Lamb New Zealand Inc.
My placement started off with the country going into lockdown. Like many others (I presume) this was not great for my productivity to say the least. As part of my placement I had been assigned with the project of creating a protein quality fact-sheet and consumer-facing resource. The project started off with mostly readings, research and teleconference meetings with the Beef and Lamb New Zealand nutrition team.
When I started writing the fact-sheet I didn’t expect to learn much new information on protein quality, as it is a topic that has been covered throughout my university studies. However, the more I researched, the more I found out how little I really knew. Three key facts that I learnt while completing the project were:
Protein quality goes beyond the amino acid content of the food. How the body digests and absorbs protein needs to be considered to assess protein quality.
When measuring greenhouse gas emissions of protein foods, the total amino acid content of the food needs to be considered.
The New Zealand sheep and beef sector have been making significant environmental changes since the 1990’s, such as decreasing their carbon emissions by over 30% while keeping productivity high.
After many hours of work and many reviews, the protein quality fact-sheet and consumer-facing resource drafts have been finalised and are in the process of being jazzed-up for publishing.
I have been able to work in the Beef and Lamb New Zealand office since lockdown has finished and I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here. In addition to my nutrition project I have helped with the cooking and creating of two new offal recipes (Marsala and mushrooms lamb’s fry and Lamb’s fry pâté), writing a short section for the Nose-to-Tail national campaign, and got to taste some delicious offal dishes cooked by one of the Beef and Lamb New Zealand ambassador chefs.
I have come away from my placement with a tiny slice of what working as a Registered Dietitian in the public health and food industry setting can look like. And for me, this experience has opened up another area of work that the nutrition and dietetics field can offer.