The Press SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 1963. Meat For Mohammedans

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30028, 12 January 1963, Page 10

The Press SATURDAY, JANUARY 12, 1963. Meat For Mohammedans

Plans for killing stock with the ritual traditional among Mohammedans are welcome, but are overdue in New Zealand. It is some time since the trade commissioner in Malaya painted out that New Zealand sales of mutton in a steadily expanding market were handicapped because killing according to Mohammedan custom was not practised in New Zealand, though it eras in Australia. Mohammedan countries present a potential market that New Zealand, the largest exporter of sheep meats in the world, cannot afford to neglect The meat export companies have been interested for some time, but have not been able to proceed far because of objections by the freezing workers* unions. These appear to have been removed in recent conciliation proceedings, and so they should be. Every new market is needed, and may

i be badly needed in the near ! future. It is in the interests . of employees in the meat works as much as in the ’ interests of employers to facilitate this innovation. What some may now rather fondly think of as “eon cessions” to an unorthodox trade could well become normal practice. Actually, experiments in New Zealand works (the Wellington Meat Export Corporation made tests last year) suggest that killings of ewes according to Mohammedan ritual can be done without impediment to the normal run of piece slaughtering on a mutton chain. If there are initial difficulties, they can be overcome provided there is perseverance and good will The welfare of many working in the meat trade may depend upon the speed with which the trade is able to cater (or a potential market for low-priced meat