Fresh Meat In His Baggage

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31599, 9 February 1968, Page 1

Fresh Meat In His Baggage

A North Canterbury breeder of Hampshire sheep reached San Francisco by air yesterday with choice cuts of prime Canterbury lamb in his personal baggage. He is Mr T. G. Maxwell chairman of directors of the new Christchurch processed food exporting firm, Co-ordin-ated Enterprises, Ltd. The lamb, packed in plastic bags, was stored in the normal luggage compartment of the jet S .. An interim director of the Christchurch firm (Mr'R. 'ft Dunn) said that Mr Maxwell planned to show the samples

of fresh lamb to suppliers of big supermarkets. If the Americans were satisfied with the prime cuts a substantial airfreight export business of fresh lamb to North America might begin.

Mr Dunn said that the samples were not chilled or frozen. Because the. luggage compartments of the aircraft were not pressurised the lamb would remain fresh and in perfect condition. The two sample lambs had been cut and packed by an expert meat cutter and salesman from Dunedin.

Mr Dunn said the samples taken by Mr Maxwell to San Francisco would alto be shown to supermarket suppliers in Vancouver. The recommendations of the supermarket suppliers in both San Francisco and Van-

couver would be passed on to their own representatives in Hawaii, Los Angeles, and Tahiti, where Mr Maxwell would make personal visits. Mr Dunn said that the Hampshire sheep being used for the trial consignment was a special type well known in the United States. It grew more rapidly than the Southdown, and it was bigger at the same age. The cost of airfreighting the fresh lamb to the United States might be 10c per lb, but this was not really a great consideration when it would make fresh New Zealand lamb less than 20 per cent dearer than frozen meat He said that the object was to put fresh New Zealand lamb on the American market off-season when few local

fresh cuts of lamb were on the market

It might be possible for Canterbury farmers to produce Hampshire lambs under contract

Mr Dunn said that his firm was negotiating to lease 67) acres adjacent to Harewood airport, where it hoped to establish a meat and food processing plant within the next three years. The firm had already made arrangements for immediate delivery of high quality cuts of fresh Hampshire lamb if the present negotiations by Mr Maxwell in the United States were successful. Mr Dunn said that the processing qf fresh vegetables

for airfreighting from Harewood was also under consideration.