A former Northland boutique abattoir will soon be slaughtering animals to produce pharmaceutical grade collagen and other products from hides and offal to be sold for human medical use in the United States.
Future expansion could include the sale of animal heart valves and blood products with the new venture expected to develop into an industry turning over billions of dollars annually, predicts Whangarei TranzNorth refrigerated truck company boss Scott Massey, a kingpin in the export project.
He has bought the Oxville Farms abattoir which Dave Anderson, his son Neil and Neil's partner Leah Stone established on about 16ha in Marua Rd at Hikurangi early in 2015, killing stock for farmers and processing the meat so it could be sold at farmers' markets or over farm gates.
Mr Massey has since teamed up with Chas Edwards and American Randall McCoy to form NZ Life Science and enlarge the Hikurangi operation to cover the whole country.
Mr Massey has been meeting with top Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) officials and is expecting a party of them to visit the abattoir on Friday, when Mr McCoy is also to show a party of Americans around the plant.