Beef clip a must at abattoirs

As world-beating kiwi inventions go, the beef clip would have to be one of the more gruesome but it is also one of the most successful.

Auckland manufacturing company Adept has just passed half a billion in unit sales for the clip, which has become the industry standard at abattoirs around the world.

The breakthrough Adept made in 1977 was to design a clip which - the squeamish should look away now - prevents the ingested stomach contents spilling out of a freshly slaughtered animal's neck.

It sounds horrible but is a device that has made meat a lot healthier and safer to eat.

It dramatically reduces the ecoli bacteria contamination in the finished product.

Adept now supplies the bulk of the world market, providing about 28 million clips a year to service 32 million cattle slaughtered in the US every 12 months. It also has 95 per cent of the Australian market.

The company has doubled its sales revenue every year for the past four years.

It is now more than $16 million.

Adept managing director Murray Fenton said the clips were so well recognised that the UK provider of beef patties for McDonald's now accepted beef only from meat suppliers who used the clip.

Fenton said designing the clip to fit the oesophagus tightly enough to prevent spillage but without tearing it open was a difficult balancing act.

The patent on the clip had lapsed and so far six companies had tried to copy the device but only one had been successful.

While the clips were invented more than 25 years ago, it was in the past 10 years that international sales skyrocketed as food safety regulations were tightened.

As Adept has grown, it has developed other product areas.

It is a major supplier of components for companies such as Navman and Fisher & Paykel Healthcare.