Here is another installment in AllGov’s series of ways in which the federal government spends money on dubious projects.

 

Project: Studying Goat Meat

Location: Ft. Valley State University in Georgia

Cost: $200,000

 

What is It: Study the viability of goat meat as a commercial product.

 

The Sell: Goat meat, also known as mutton, is the fourth most popular meat in the world. Right now, the U.S. imports goat meat to meet the needs of ethnic cuisines, most of it from Australia and New Zealand. The U.S. has the potential to build a profitable goat meat industry of its own if Americans could just be conditioned to overcome their prejudice against eating goats.

 

The Reality: In 1983 Ft. Valley State created what later became known as the Georgia Small Ruminant Research and Extension Center. Originally, the Center stuck to the study of goat milk, but in the 1990s it expanded its horizons to cover using goats, llamas, alpacas and “farmed deer” for meat.

 

Since 2003, it has received more than $3 million in grants to study various aspects of goat meat and has produced numerous studies aimed at promoting goat-eating, such as how to tenderize it and make it easier to chew. Ft. Valley has also led the fight against “deadly blood-sucking nematodes” which attack goats and sheep.

 

In the end, though, spreading the use of goat meat in the U.S. diet is likely to be a tough sell.

-David Wallechinsky