Kentucky ostrich farm and restaurant offer alpha-gal patients an alternative

CDC estimates 450,000 Americans received an alpha-gal diagnosis

Kentucky farmer Brent Williams and restaurant owner Kenneth Todd are making ostrich meat a dining option for people with alpha-gal syndrome, according to an NPR report published Oct. 26. Reporter Hannah Saad, reporting with member station WKMS, documented Williams’s farm and Todd’s Papaw’s Poole Mill Restaurant in rural western Kentucky. The restaurant prepares ostrich burgers for diners who need an alternative to meat from mammals.

People with alpha-gal syndrome can have allergic reactions to meat from mammals, and many of them change their diets to eat other proteins. NPR host Leila Fadel said the CDC estimates 450,000 Americans have been diagnosed with the condition and described alpha-gal as a red-meat allergy that can follow certain tick bites. Fadel also said some farmers are exploring exotic red-meat alternatives.

Williams grew up raising cattle and said, “My nickname since fifth grade is Beef.” A tick bite was followed by his diagnosis, and he began researching meats that could rival beef’s flavors. He found ostriches, tried meat sourced from the African bird on special occasions and then began raising the birds himself.

While considering people who could not eat red meat, Williams said, “I’m a farmer. Why can’t I do this? Why can’t we do this to help?” His search for a replacement meat became a farm venture that supplied the ostrich Todd later added to his menu.

Ostriches belong to a group of large, flightless birds that includes emus and rheas. Their meat is a little different from traditional poultry such as chicken and turkey. It is dark red and resembles a beef steak without being beef.

University of Kentucky nutrition professor Abbigail Pace said ostrich meat contains all essential amino acids, including those the body cannot make, and is lower in fat than some other red meats. Its key distinction for people with alpha-gal syndrome is what it does not contain.

NPR reported that ostrich meat lacks galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose, a carbohydrate found in most mammals. People with alpha-gal syndrome have developed antibodies to the compound, and exposure can trigger immune responses including hives, rashes and nausea. Because ostrich meat lacks the compound, it can offer a meat-based alternative to people who react to mammal meat.

Pace said alpha-gal syndrome is becoming harder to ignore as lone star tick populations grow, particularly in the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest and Deep South. She said as many as 1 in 4 people have antibodies to alpha-gal at this point, while noting that not everyone with antibodies has symptoms.

Todd regularly ate beef until his diagnosis. After trying ostrich from Williams’s Kentucky farm, he liked it enough to add it to the menu. “I’ve had people come in from three, four hours away just to get an alpha-gal burger, just to get an ostrich burger,” he said. Todd said the burger also felt good because it helped people in the same position he had faced.

Mark Geary learned over the summer that he had alpha-gal. He said ostrich became his go-to because turkey did not meet his taste. His food was prepared in an alpha-gal-friendly section of the restaurant kitchen set up to prevent cross-contamination with mammal products. Geary called the result “pretty fire.”

Todd said he was considering creating a breakfast menu with ostrich sausage. Williams’s farm and Todd’s restaurant now connect the production of ostrich meat with its preparation for people with alpha-gal syndrome, including an alpha-gal-friendly kitchen section designed to prevent cross-contamination with mammal products.