According to the French company, which is a specialist in meat-bone separators, deboners and desinewers, Lima, whereas a few years ago all the coproducts from processing, such as necks, wings, legs, were kept together when it came to recovering the meat, now they are more often sorted by quality.

Each different coproduct can have a different value and as Bernard le Bris from Lima said, the processor is trying to earn more on each step of the process.

To this end, Lima has improved the capacity of its machines and has developed them to meet specific demands from customers.

The company that has between 70 and 80 per cent of its business in the poultry processing sector is seeing the demand for low cost protein rise and as the industry improves and expands there are going to be more and more coproducts going forward for further processing and meat recovery.

The company is finding strong market in emerging nations such as China and the former Soviet Union countries and Eastern Europe where there is a demand for low cost protein.