Farmed python snake meat a sustainable and efficient source of protein, study finds
A study published in the Nature journal has found the meat to be highly efficient, environmentally friendly source of nutrition that can be raised on waste proteins.
South Australian butcher Matt Fox, who sells exotic and game meats in Mount Gambier, says he has had a "handful of customers" ask for snake meat.
The study observed Burmese python snakes that were fed minced meat sausages consisting of stillborn piglets and chicken heads.
"They are more efficient than any other livestock animal studied to date," the study's lead author Daniel Natusch said.
Dr Natusch, from Macquarie University's School of Natural Sciences, said the reptiles were an efficient source of protein because of the way they processed food.
"Warm-blooded animals waste about 80 to 90 per cent of the energy they get from their food in heat production," he said.
"Cold-blooded animals such as pythons don't have that constraint — they're able to allocate far more of the energy they get from their food into things like growth."
