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Press, 5 February 1987, Page 25

Senior management and meat department managers of the giant Seiyu Food Group, of Japan, yesterday inspected lamb-cuttihg operations at the Sockburn works of Ashley Meats, part of the Stevens Group. 1 , Mr Russell Stevens (left), managing director of Stevens N.C.F., showed Messrs Yohltu Mizumoto (right), director of Seiyu Foods, and Junichi Morri, of the personnel department of Seiyu, some of the Janmark chilled iamb cuts being exported to Japan. Seiyu had a turnover of SUSS billion last year and sells New Zealand lamb in more than 2H of its 249 stores throughout Japan. Mr Mizumoto said the party of 23 Japanese had been impressed by the standard of cleanliness and meat preparation in New Zealand meat companies. The principal of the Stevens Group, Mr Ces Stevens, who is also chairman of the Janmark consortium of New Zealand - meat companies, presented a certificate acknowledging the efforts of Seiyu in promoting New Zealand lamb. Mr Takashi Asai, a Tokyo-based director of Janmark and the Asian New Zealand Meat Company (another consortium company), said Seiyu was the first supermarket chain in Japan to buy big volumes of New Zealand lamb. It is the third-largest retail chain in Japan.