The Press THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1972. Standards of meat processing

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33063, 2 November 1972, Page 14

The Press THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2, 1972. Standards of meat processing

The first moves by the United States Department of Agriculture some years ago to raise the standards of grading and inspection of meat imported by the United States caused exporting countries to suspect that the farm lobby in Washington had found a new device to exclude competitive imports. WTiatever justification there may have been for that suspicion, protection of the domestic meat industry in the United States can no longer be held responsible for the extra costs imposed on the New Zealand freezing works. Prodded by “ Nader’s crusaders ”, the United States meat works now have to conform to high standards of hygiene and grading — the same standards, according to Mr R. E. Anderson, the agricultural attache to the United States Embassy in Wellington, as those demanded of meat works in this country exporting to the United States. The American hygiene regulations used to be a scapegoat for the New Zealand meat industry. But, as Mr Anderson told a Mid-Canterbury audience recently, other countries, too, are tightening their regulations. “ The E.E.C. inspection and hygiene •‘requirements are still to be defined. However, I “ think it is safe to say that from a disease standpoint “ they will be tougher than United States require- “ ments ”. This is a gloomy prospect for New Zealand meat exporters, well aware of the increased costs incurred in meeting higher standards. One industrv spokesman told “The Press” this week that the new requirement to skin sheep kidneys could in some cases reduce the killing rate to “ about two-thirds “ of normal, or less ”. The higher costs incurred will fall mainly on New Zealand meat producers; but at least they can now be assured that the same costs ar \ being passed on to North American and European producers.

This will be no consolation to the New Zealand housewife if she, too, has to pay the higher cost of processing meat to a standard set in the United States or Europe—a standard which she and the New Zealand health authorities jmight consider unnecessarily strict. But if every freezing works in the country conforms to the highest standards set in any of New Zealand’s export markets the New Zealand housewife will have no option but to pay the going price for export meat. Nearly all New Zealand meat works fall into one of two categories: those whose owners aspire to sell on every export market, and those whose owners comply reluctantly or belatedly with the minimum standards for a local abattoir. There is a strange dearth of meat works, designed specifically to meet all the requirements of a local abattoir, which could also process meat for export to most other countries. Now that rationalisation of the processing and marketing functions of meat companies has begun, it is to be hoped that their New Zealand, customers will not be overlooked. It should be in the interests of all concerned to reduce the overhead costs of the Industry by removing some of the works from the top export classification, and by improving—or closing down—the worst of the local abattoirs.