Kentucky man develops a life-threatening red meat allergy after a steak sandwich. Now he raises ostriches for a taste of beef

Four years ago, Brent Williams was presented with an unusual business proposition: start an ostrich farm.

For Williams, the idea wasn't simply a new business opportunity. It offered a potential answer to a deeply personal problem.

The Kentucky farmer and nutritionist had developed alpha-gal syndrome, a potentially life-threatening allergy to red meat after being bitten by a tick. Beef, pork and other mammalian meats were suddenly off the menu.


Then he discovered ostrich meat.

The flightless bird's meat is red, rich in iron and remarkably similar to beef in taste and texture. Unlike meat from mammals, ostrich is considered a potential alternative for people with alpha-gal syndrome.

Today, Williams is a partner at Alpha Roost Farms in Danville, Kentucky, where more than 400 ostriches are raised. The farm expects to increase that number to about 700 by next year.

Ostrich meat is giving some people their burgers back

Alpha-gal syndrome is a relatively new food allergy that has been linked to tick bites. The tick introduces a sugar called alpha-gal into the bloodstream, prompting the immune system to produce antibodies against it.

Because alpha-gal is found in most mammals but not humans, people with the syndrome can experience reactions after eating beef, pork, lamb and other mammalian products.

Symptoms can include hives, itching and gastrointestinal problems, and reactions can sometimes be severe.

Poultry, seafood and eggs generally don't contain alpha-gal, meaning foods such as chicken and turkey remain options.

But for people who miss the taste of beef, ostrich offers something different.

“The people that have alpha-gal that I talked to that have tried an ostrich burger, most of them are almost in tears,” Williams told The Associated Press. “You just don’t know how bad I missed this.”

The demand is strong enough that ostrich meat can command a premium. Ground ostrich can cost more than $20 a pound, while some choice cuts sell for more than $40.

Leah Gibbs, who runs Dry Branch Farm market in Danville and sells Alpha Roost Farms' ostrich meat, said customers travel from across Kentucky to buy it.

“They are elated to have something that's an alternative to beef,” Gibbs said, adding that she finds the meat remarkably similar in taste.

The Alpha-Gal Association, a nonprofit advocacy organization, also lists ostrich as a possible dietary substitute for people with the condition.

America's ostrich industry is growing again

The renewed interest in ostrich meat comes decades after the U.S. ostrich industry experienced a dramatic boom and bust.

During the 1990s, investors rushed into ostrich farming, believing the birds could be raised much like chickens. But ostriches aren't simply oversized poultry.

They need substantially more space and different management practices, and many farms struggled to produce the numbers they had anticipated.

“The U.S. producers that jumped both feet in in the '90s, they were all operating under the premise that these were 300-pound chickens,” said Michael Lehman, vice president of the American Ostrich Association and an Oregon ostrich farmer.

The resulting supply problems, combined with soaring prices, helped bring the industry crashing down.

Today, Lehman estimates that only about 10 to 15 U.S. farms maintain large ostrich herds. Those remaining producers have developed a better understanding of the birds' behavior and their need for open space.

Now, demand appears to be pushing the industry in the opposite direction.

Boyd Clark, who operates Clark Ostrich Farm in Texas, has about 1,200 birds and expects to increase his herd by roughly 50% next year.

He said restaurants and small retailers from around the country are increasingly contacting him because their customers are asking for ostrich.

Williams knows what it means to miss a hamburger

Williams' interest in ostrich farming is rooted in his own experience.

He was diagnosed with alpha-gal syndrome seven years ago, after suffering his first major reaction in 2017. He had eaten a steak sandwich while traveling for work, something he had done countless times before.

But this time, he became seriously ill.

When Williams visited an allergist, one of the first questions he was asked was whether he had been bitten by a tick.

“I just laughed and said, ‘Sure, hundreds,’” Williams recalled.

He had spent much of his life raising livestock in places where ticks were common, making repeated exposure unsurprising.

Once diagnosed, Williams had to avoid mammalian meat and even became cautious about less obvious sources of alpha-gal, including gelatin in medications and exposure to meat being cooked nearby.

“It's been eight years, but I still vividly remember how sick I was,” he said.

Then came the ostrich steak.

His wife ordered some online, and Williams cooked it himself. For someone who had spent years without beef, the experience was unexpectedly familiar.

“The mouth feel, the taste, the texture, it brought me good memories,” he said. “Because there’s only so many ways you can cook a chicken.”

For Williams, ostrich farming has become more than an unusual agricultural venture. It has created a way for people who thought hamburgers were permanently off their plates to get a little closer to the food they remember.


With AP Inputs