In theory, about 95% of one animal is usable. The remaining 5% is processing losses. From that 95%, about 55% (on average) of the animal is used for edible products and the remaining 45% is inedible by-products. The world production of ABPs derived from the meat and animal production industries is approximately 60 million tons per year. It has been estimated that more than 10 million tons of products not destined for direct human consumption, derived from healthy animals, are produced in the EU every year.A lot of ABPs are commonly used in important productive sectors, such as in the pharmaceutical, feed, wool and leather industries but, notwithstanding, new technologies have widened the possible use of ABPs and derived products. Consequently a wide range of ABPs are not utilized and are destined to disposal. Further studies are required to hone accuracy and to find and define the appropriate application for the countless substances present in the animal reproductive organs.
Raffaella Leoci è docente presso l'Università degli Studi "Aldo Moro" di Bari.
Quest'opera è visualizzabile in anteprima su Google Books ed è distribuita con licenza Creative Commons, in copia elettronica e in modalità Open Access per la diffusione della ricerca scientifica, al seguente indirizzo stabile: https://archive.org/details/info_universitas-studiorum_ABPs
