Μake us preferred on Google Meat processors and ingredient suppliers are investing in turning more of each cow into health and beauty products as they seek to cash in on a surge in enthusiasm for all things bovine.
Hides, bones, skin, cartilage and tendons are supplying collagen for products ranging from cheese spreads to beer. Beef fat from around cattle’s kidneys is being sold as moisturiser, while colostrum — the first milk cows produce after calving — is being marketed to health-conscious gym bros as an all-in-one powder supplement containing protein, vitamins and minerals.
Promoted by wellness influencers, these products promise everything from smoother skin to better digestion, appealing to so-called healthmaxxers who see animal ingredients as a more natural option than synthetic alternatives. US unit sales of collagen supplements rose 20 per cent in the year to October 24, while spending increased 13 per cent to $1.3bn, according to consumer data group NIQ.
For companies such as Brazil’s JBS and US-based Darling Ingredients, consumers’ appetite for these products offers the prospect of earning more from each animal they already slaughter.
Darling reported in October that its food ingredients division, which includes collagen and gelatin alongside other products, generated $263mn in adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in the first nine months of 2026, up about 24 per cent.
“About half of the animal doesn’t make it to your dinner plate,” said Suann Guthrie, Darling’s senior vice-president for investor relations and global affairs, explaining the opportunity. “The protein interest and growth in the last year has really sparked new customers for us.”
JBS, the world’s biggest meat processor, is also expanding its collagen business and researching proteins it can extract from other parts of cattle, including organs.
“We believe that with science development, humanity will find and discover new products based on cattle industry, based on different types of organs, different types of meats, and different types of peptides,” said Ricardo Gelain, president of JBS’s new businesses division.
The enthusiasm for animal foods has acquired a political champion in Robert F Kennedy Jr. The US health secretary’s promotion of meat and dairy, alongside attacks on highly processed foods, has delighted some producers.
“When you go to meat conferences, RFK is the new darling for the meat industry,” said Thomas Odermatt of California-based Butcher’s, which makes fresh bone broth.
For JBS, the route into health and nutrition runs through Genu-in, its collagen peptide and gelatin business. The group invested R$400mn, or $73mn, in its Brazilian factory, which opened in 2022 and uses cattle skin from JBS’s processing operations to supply food, supplement and pharmaceutical manufacturers.
Genu-in has the second-highest ebitda margin among JBS’s new businesses, according to the company.
JBS’s customers in Brazil are already putting its collagen into protein water, cheese spreads and non-alcoholic beer, Gelain said.
In September, JBS launched Genu-in Solutions to help customers develop finished products. Among its creations is a puffed snack containing 44 per cent protein, developed over 18 months. Collagen gummies and ready-to-drink products are also on the way.
Cattle-derived collagen accounted for roughly $4.4bn in global sales in 2025, based on estimates from Grand View Research, including traditional gelatin applications as well as supplements.
Darling accounts for about 30 per cent of global collagen and gelatin production. It paid about $1.2bn for Brazil’s Gelnex in 2023, bringing production closer to the raw materials, said Guthrie.
It has also agreed to combine its collagen and gelatin operations with those of Belgium’s Tessenderlo, in a venture awaiting regulatory approval. Extracting protein from hides and bones is the expensive part, Guthrie said, making existing processing capacity valuable.
“We believe that this is going to continue to grow, and we need more production,” she said, adding that China was also “growing tremendously”. “They’re very interested in the nutritional aspect,” she said.
Guthrie said specialised collagen products could generate an additional $40mn-$50mn in ebitda as Darling targets production of 5,000 tonnes by 2030.
Demand is also spreading beyond supplements. Expensive whey has prompted food manufacturers to approach Darling about using collagen as an alternative protein supplement. Its scientists helped a brewery near Dallas incorporate it into beer, developing the formulation in an application lab, according to Guthrie.
Darling processes pig and fish materials as well as cattle, but its customers show a preference for bovine collagen, she said.
“I’m now in the health business,” said Odermatt.
Butcher’s is growing 70 per cent year on year, he added, although it remains small. Odermatt believes fresh broth leaves room for specialists alongside industrial processors. “They are in it already,” he said of the large meat groups. “There’s space for all of us.”
Making broth, he argued, is closer to craft brewing than an automated industrial process. Refrigerated distribution across the US adds another complication. But his customers recognise something worth paying for before the broth has even been heated: the wobble when chilled.
“It’s all about that jiggle.”
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