Praise for progress

Press, 10 May 1979, Page 1

Praise for progress

The chairman of the Pork Producers’ Committee (Mr W. D. Glass) said that a lot of progress had been made towards allaying producer concerns. However, he hoped that more talks with the company would get “things resolved further.”

Mr Glass will report to the annual meeting of local pork producers this evening. Changes at the abattoir last month, after negotiations between the committee and Associated Meat Buvers will be discussed. Since then, “hot weight” weighing has been introduced, which means a slight rise in the return for the producer. Previously a 3 per cent reduction was made in the weight of the carcase immediately after slaughter, to allow for shrinkage during chilling.

According to Mr Glass, this has been sought by producers for a long time, and it still has to be introduced at other abattoirs throughout New Zealand. The change to hot weighing will mean a slight disadvantage for butchers. According to the president of the Canterbury Meat Retailers’ Association (Mr B. G. Sayers), a pig will be stamped with a weight which is actually more than it weighs by the time the butcher receives it. He said that a butcher would have to pay for about $2 worth of meat on the average-sized pig which he did not receive. However, Mr Sayers did not foresee this directly affecting the retail price of pork. Pig farmers now receive “killing sheets” from the abattoir. These were also sought by the committee.

as a record for the fanner of the weight of each individual pig slaughtered. Previously he received only an information sheet, with a total weight, Mr Glass said.

Mr Glass still saw one area of concern about the abattoir procedure. This centred on the use of Canterbury Bye-Products staff to weigh the pigs. He said that farmers would be “satisfied” with an independent weighing authority. He suggested that Ministry of Agriculture inspectors, who grade pigs on their fat content at present, could also be used to record the weights.

This was dismissed by Mr Anderson. Canterbury Bye-Products owned the trading company, he said, but there was “no practical connection” between staff from the two firms.

“We have been able to establish total independence for the man on the scales,” Mr Anderson said. Hence, there was no need to tie up specialised Ministry inspectors. In spite of this difference, both parties appear keen to maintain channels of communication not always used in the past. Both agreed that the industry required an element of trust on both sides. Mr Glass said that this was vital if the shortage of pork in Canterbury over the last two years was to be overcome. Pig producers throughout New Zealand were watching the situation in Christchurch, hoping that it would lead to the establishment of national regulations for the weighing and grading of pig meat.