Lamb cutting plant opened

Press, 25 July 1985, Page 32

Lamb cutting plant opened

By

HUGH NEVILL

NZPA staff correspondent Washington The chairman of the Meat Export Development Company, Mr Ron Cushen, last week formally opened a lamb cutting plant in the depths of the Virginia countryside which is already turning out 300,000 pounds of New Zealand loin and shoulder chops a month. The former poultry deboning plant is near the village of Edinburg, 160 km south-east of Washington, D.C., in the Shenandoah Valley. The Ambassador to the United States, Sir Wallace Rowling, unveiled a plate marking the centenary of New Zealand’s first shipment of frozen meat, and Mr Cushen cut a large red ribbon and signed the transfer of ownership

papers. The plant is staffed by 15 former turkey and poultry workers — their number will be doubled by September 1 — and the new chief executive officer and vicepresident of the New Zealand Lamb Company, Devco’s North American arm, are both former members of the Shenandoah Valley Poultry Company. Sir Wallace praised the turkey industry as an example of an industry which had adapted to changing consumer needs, switching from selling whole birds to a variety of cuts, and said the opening of the lamb cutting plant reflected “some of the major marketing lessons we have learnt in the United States.” The New Zealand Lamb Company runs a similar plant on the west coast.