JOINT MEAT EFFORT

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30760, 26 May 1965, Page 14

JOINT MEAT EFFORT

(N.Z. Press Association) HAMILTON, May 25. Meat producers in New Zealand and those who processed their products for overseas markets were collaborating more in an effort to increase consumer demand, said the director of the Meat Industry Bureau Institute (Mr N. H. Law) in his annual report.

Mr Law said the recognition by both producer and processor of the need for a common policy in meeting current overseas requirements was an interesting development in New Zealand and offered exciting prospects in dealing confidently with competitors overseas.

There was an increasing awareness among those responsible for animal production that the quality of the country’s meat exports was dependent initially on the production of good quality livestock, the quality requirements being determined by consumer demand. Mr Law said this trend of mutual collaboration was already having interesting repercussions on the work being

undertaken by the Meat Research Institute.

The institute by its very dose association with the industry could be expected to reflect such trends in its work more than other research organisations having similar interests but being less favourably placed. The increasing collaboration between the scientists of the Ruakura Agricultural Research Centre and the staff of the Meat Research Institute amply illustrated the developing interdependence of the agriculturist and meat scientist. At present, for instance, the following projects, which were of importance to both producer and processor, were the subjects of joint effort. The control and elimination of salmonella.

The production of lighter and leaner lambs for the export trade.

Determining the effect of the sire on the payability of meat from their progeny. The evaluation of the payability of bull meat compared with steer meat. This was a heartening development and a basically sound one. Further, the research associated specifically with lamb tenderness which had been undertaken by the biochemis-

.try and home economics sections of the institute over the last two to three years was another instance of the contribution the institute was making towards an industry sensitive to the need for marketing a quality product. This project had required much detailed background research into the many aspects of meat structure.