New Meat Factory In City Opens This Week

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30154, 11 June 1963, Page 12

New Meat Factory In City Opens This Week

It is expected that a new factory for the processing and packaging of meat will begin operating m Christchurch before the end of the week The factory is that of Meat Packers (N Z ), Ltd., a New Zealand company with headquarters at Castlecliff Wanganui

The Christchurch factory, which is in Montreal street, wil] be producing for both the export market and the local trade It is hoped eventually to open retail selling facilities in the factory At Castleclifl, where more 'han 250 men and women are employed, about 90 per cent of the company’s production is for export, mainly lo the United States For the North American market the company specialises in the processing of top quality ox beef into cuts for use by the highclass institutional and restaurant trade It has also begun to process packaged lamb

pieces for sale by supermarkets and large retail stores tn the United Kingdom and it is regularly shipping processed meat to foreign markets including Canada. Greece. Germany Hawaii. Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and x the West Indies

Initially the Christchurch factory will have a staff of six. but there is sufficient room for a staff of 50 Mr B A Dodds, who was assistant factory manager for the firm at Wanganui, has come to Christchurch to be factory manager, and he also has with him Mr B Tunbridge, one of the senior boners at Wanganui

A Department of Agriculture inspector will be stationed full time at the new factory to ensure that high standards are maintained In establishing a factory in Christchurch the company believes that Canterbury has a potential for prime beef rwoduction and the factory will provide an additional outlet for the beef oroduc tirtn of local farmers Stock for processing and nackaging at the factory will be slaughtered at the Islington works of the New Zealand Refrigerating Company with which the company has a killing arrangement