Nelson works not to kill for E.E.C.

Press, 6 July 1983, Page 2

Nelson works not to kill for E.E.C.

PA Nelson Waitaki N.Z. Refrigerating’s works at Nelson will not kill for export to the E.E.C. next season. The works needed ?2.5 million spent to improve them to E.E.C. export standards, said Waitaki’s Nelson manager, Mr Barry Johnston, yesterday. An E.E.C. veterinary inspection team visited the works in May as part of a New Zealand-wide tour to review meat-exporting plants to see if they conformed with new E.E.C. regulations. Their report is due in November. The managing director of Waitaki, Mr Athol Hutton, said the company had been told informally that certain requirements were needed at Nelson to get the works up to E.E.C. standards. “The Nelson works cannot kill for E.E.C. this coming season,” Mr Hutton said. Whether it was worth while for the company to spend money on the works depended on its output, he said. “There is no way we can spend that kind of money when we have a daily throughput of 2500 sheep through the pelting machine,” he said. Waitaki has installed a pelting machine with a capacity of 3200 sheep a day. “We would need some assurance that the pelting machine would be manned and worked at 3200 a day before spending money on upgrading,” Mr Hutton said. “If we cannot get new technology working in Nelson there is not much point in getting the plant up to E.E.C. specifications,” he said.