By: James McLean, Business Insider You can thank the New Zealand government for the new ‘coyote meat’ craze.
In the last decade, the government has been working to eradicate the native carnivore, a species that has ravaged the country’s native forests, causing the extinction of up to 100 species, including the countrys only remaining coyote.
Now, it’s finally done it, with the creation of the first Canadian-grown ‘cargo coyote’ meat, which can be served at restaurants, or cooked on the grill to be eaten by guests.
According to the CBC, the meat, produced by the Canadian meat processing company Crayola, is expected to become available to the public this year.
The company has produced the meat since 2015, and says that since then, the coyote has been the first of its kind to receive approval to be exported from Canada.
“It’s a really cool piece of meat that we have,” Crayolife co-founder Andrew Miller said.
“The thing is, it comes in a really neat package that’s made from 100% beef, and we use a very low salt and high temperature process, and that’s all the meat you need.”
Miller and co-founders Andrew Wojcik and David Dominguez said that the meat is a much more palatable and nutritious version of what they’ve previously produced.
“We wanted to go a little bit more upscale, so we’re really excited to be able to offer it to Canadians,” Miller said, adding that the process has been designed to reduce the environmental impact of producing the meat.
“We’re really proud of what we’ve achieved.”
Crayola is not the only Canadian company to produce a product that is similar to the meat from the United States, however.
Cayuga Meat is also the maker of the popular Cray-O-Rama, and the Crayon meat is also available to Canadians at CrayaMeat.ca.
The product is not available to consumers, however, as Crayo-O is not a meat producer.
Miller and his team are confident that the Coyote Meat will be an effective food option for New Zealanders, as it is much more environmentally friendly than the traditional meat.
“We’re hoping it will be the same for New Zealands people, because it’s so much better to be vegetarian,” Miller told Business Insider.
“You can go out and get a piece of beef every day and still be vegetarian.
So if you have a meatless diet, you could be eating a lot more meat.”