‘Black’ meat man small fry?

Press, 27 November 1982, Page 1

‘Black’ meat man small fry?

A claim by Ministry of Agriculture officials that a man they caught with a load of black-market mutton this week is one of the biggest black-marketeers on the West Coast is nonsense, according to the editor of the “Westport News,” Mr Colin Warren, yesterday. He was referring to a Greymouth report which said that Ministry staff from Greymouth and Christchurch acting on a tip-off swooned on a trailer-load of “filthy” farm-killed mutton. The meat, 30 carcases, which had been contaminated by gut content and carried a high risk of salmonella, was seized in transit in the Buller Gorge. The meat had apparently been all pre-sold and black marketeers stand to lose as much as $BOO as a result of the Ministry’s actions. Officials said that the mutton had been pre-sold at $26 a carcase, $lO below the wholesale price available to butchers. Ministry officials also said that the meat was being carried from outside the Westport meat inspection area, but do not believe it was destined for any approved commercial outlet. The mutton was condemned and buried in the offal pit at the Westport Municipal Abattoir. The raid was the first successful action the Ministry' has undertaken since publicly warning of a clampdown on farm-killed meat. "This sort of thing has been going on for months, even years, but it has been difficult to follow up. We had something to work on this time,” a Greymouth Ministry officer said. However/ according to “Westport News” investigations, the man caught on Sunday is a very small operator compared with others the Ministry knows about. . . The Ministry has had suspicions of at least two largescale farm-based marketings for some time. One farmer even advertised his cheap meat at the Cape Foulwind cement works last Christmas. Not only are the farmers selling meat in the Westport area but they are suspected of having outlets in Nelson and Christchurch. It is curious then that the Ministry should describe an individual who had allegedly made a number of trips to Blenheim for mutton, as a big marketeer. Buller Federated Farmers are most concerned about the farm-based sellers because there have been heavy stock losses in the WestportCharleston area over the last two or three years.

The president Mr, Bruce Hamilton, said yesterday that several hundred head of stock, not including the 300 hoggets lost by the Lands and Survey at Cape Foul wind in three months earlier this year, had been lost. “Unfortunately the rustlers are impossible to catch, and in any case it- is always a battle to get a conviction,” said Mr Hamilton. At this stage farmers were not considering banding together to fight the problem. “But we would like the Ministry to shut down the illegal farm butcheries. Once they go, our stock losses will surely diminish,” Mr Hamilton said.