MARKING OF MEAT

Press, Volume LXIX, Issue 20904, 11 July 1933, Page 14

MARKING OF MEAT

CLOSE OF THE ENQUIRY. A FORECAST. (rpjjll OIZ 077.S - COSSKSPOMJEXV.; LONDON, June 1. The committee hearing the application for the marking of imported meat have now finished the hearing of evidence, and if one may judge from the rather strange proceedings of the last day there is a possibility of New Zealand freezing works having to mark their carcases of lamb in future. It was in the first week of January that th«; enquiry began, and since then until it; close there were 22 days' sit-. ! lings. Mr R. S. Forsyth cLondon; manager of the New Zealand Meat Board) and Mr A. Dalley < o l Messrs Sims, Cooper), acting for the Imported Meat Trncles' Association, spent ~0 days at the enquiry, besides a good deal oC time in working up their case in opposition. Very strong evidence wa- "givf-n showing the oifficulty ot mar kin'; mutton and lamb, especially by the reorcscntatives of Nev/ Zealand, Australia, and South America. Freshly-killed beei, mutton, lam.-, and pork were branded at din',J ;-nd put into store for moi. than two months. When it v taken out of store the oat v/as clc"." and sharp. and the markings were not blurred. This was unfortunate Tor the trade. Nevertheless, the commiti.ee agreed that the markini's on the mutton and lamb looked bad from a trade point of view. Then the committee found out that a certain v/ell-known South American firm brand their finest quality lamo and mutton at four points for an advertisement. and an independent witness c£ some standing v/as led to admit vhat others could do the same with convenience. After all evidence had been taken and the counsel for the opposition had closed his case, the committee asked the applicants what they really wanted in the way ot a brand It v/as suggested that the brand might merely be at four points und not a roller brand down both sides "of the carcase, as is the case with the nation mark. Counsel for i the af>plication was not heard further From these uiutfu.il proceedings it may be expected thet the committee are likely to recommend such a brand for imported mutton and lamb. Although the committee is an advisory body which reports to the Ministry of Agriculture and the Scottish Minister, it would be most unusual for the Ministries to act contrary to the recommendations. Meat Importers' -Protest. At a meeting of representatives of the freezing works and their agents 95 appended their signatures to a strongly worded resolution of protest. The resolution, which was submitted to the committee of enquiry, stated that the roller stamp marks on both sides of the carcases would injure the meat by rendering it unsightly and unpalatable as an article of food. That there was grave; risk that the use of methylated spirits in the composition of the marking ink would impregnate carcases which had afterwards to be closely packed and stored in large quantities for many weeks; that meat so marked could only be sold at a reduced price, and that the demand for it would be also reduced; that the additional operation of marking the carcases at the freezing works before export would disorganise and seriously reduce the output of the works and necessitate very heavy additional expensefa) In the alteration and extension of the freezing works and plant, and fb) In considerable extra labour in the process of marking. The signatories also recorded their opinion that the methods of marking proposed would not prevent substitution of imported meat for home-killed meat by a dishonest trader, owing to the necessity for butchering, barking, trimming, and preparing the meat for the consumer in the ordinary course of trade, and that there is no demand on the part of the public for an order of the natuie proposed. Mr David Jones, chairman of the Meat Producers' Board, attended the last two days oi the enquiry. SOUTHLAND MEAT EXPORTS. MORE THAN 1,000,000 LAMBS. The total killings for export this season in the province of Southland exceeded the million mark in lambs, 1 the total figures being 1,033,294 lambs ; and 110,370 sheep. ' The Mataura and Makarewa works : disposed of 646,756 lambs and 62,407 sheep, and the Ocean Beach works . 384,538 lambs and 47,963 sheep. This . is a decline on the figures of last j season of approximately 45,000 cart cases. The South Otago Freezing Com- . pany's works at Finegand closed at . the beginning of the month. The total of sheen and lambs put through was * smaller, but the season was a good cne for the company, the total number of sheep and lambs being 328,000, compared with 351,000 in the 1931-32 , season. More cattle were dealt with, . viz., 3700 head, as compared with 2000 ' head in 1931-32. FOREIGN EXCHANGES.

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