FROZEN WHALE MEAT

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25084, 16 January 1947, Page 8

FROZEN WHALE MEAT

COMMODITY UNLIKELY TO BE BOOSTED LONDON, January 8. . Apparently, Mr John Strachey, Minister of Food, is not taking very seriously the contribution which frozen whale meat can make to the national diet. New Zealand shippers of beef, mutton, and lamb may derive some satisfaction from the knowledge that official quarters here are not expected to boost this new commodity, which the Institute of Refrigeration showed to be quite acceptable to the palate when it featured it at its annual luncheon recently.

~ Strachey, at a press conference this month, thought that it was “impracticable” to bring any appreciable supply to this country, as it would need a considerable amount of refrigerated shipping to lift frozen whale * rom Antarctica to these shores, lhe amount which a vessel like the Balaena could -catch and process in a single trip is thought to be in excess of what she herself could cold-store and transport home. Mr Strachey was also advised that it needed special culinary skill to make the meat really presentable for the table. This of course, is a challenge which the British housewife would be only too eager to take up.

Meanwhile, a shipment of whale meat has arrived at North Shields, on the north-east coast, from Norway, and, being uncontrolled, is going to the fishmongers for sale at Is lOd per lb.