A NOTABLE PROCESS.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 659, 9 November 1909, Page 8

A NOTABLE PROCESS.

1 OHILIiED BEEF FEOM AUSTRALIA., Tho success attending the trial''Bhipment of' ' > cwued beef; from Australia by tho MaYith'on, • .referred to m j to-day's •. cablegrams, 7 opens -up VBreat prospects "for, Australia and Now Zealand. iifm.S u ? adß J the same prices' u Argentine ohillnd beef, and an important situation developed by this success is the fact,'as pointed' S2 I y Tunes,' that the American Beet Trust will have to face competition for the first time. , The sources of supply for chilled meat just now are the-United States, Canada,. And the Argentine, but there is plenty of room for Australasia to, enter.into' the business. .-.lt, is. veTy 1 probable that special chilling companies will be ■' formed in the localities where**supplies 'aro*available, and ,'no doubt many of ; the freezinff companies will add the chilling plant to. their works. . The new . mode of treatment, is known as the Linley process, and is a British'invention". I ■■ It is found with chilled meat, as at "present f -treated, that-not .only does dccompasitjon ect in • very ,quickly after.'lt.is-removed from the re- ' frigerating chambers, but that'it loses its bright and ..fresh appearance, and assumes:-what is i known a 9 sodden" or "waterrwashed" appear- • ance, and also, bfecomes. stained, of moisture'.deposited, on .the : surfaces-'and .on the- covering'.sheets.' TJnder. the Liriley.Socess : the -meat is, so . treated . that it:'i's, that; ' ! oven , after a comparatively long^ voyage/'the j meat;will remain ina prime cohditiph,'and have a bright fresh appearance, after y-withdrawal from-the chamber for 'a sufficiently .'lone p'eriid ' to enable it to be distributed , and-dealt with' in 1 the ordinary way; and thus put/- it practically | on the'same footing in regard (to'icjnality, . appearance,' keeping, properties,.'-and price as . meat. . The £inley invention is applied to the chilling now adopted.,but - with it is combined, an initial i sterilising.- process at-a comparatively high, temperature,.-together! with a-treatment.of the air,: in the-chambers b either .continuously or at "regular intervals,-by. . which the air is'circulated,^cleaned,-dried; ana 3 maintained .at the proper, degrto ; of . humidity'; l in 3 the xase of-long voyages,, or : numerous'tranship- - ments, in addition to the initial 'sterilising proi cess, the .meat is subjected to a further steriasa-' i tiou 'during transit. 5 .The meat is.sterilised by.subjecting;it;to\an : .. .atmosphere containing-- atomised 'formaline 1 vapour shortly after the animal; is'.slaughtered, - allowing only the'.neccssary : interval* during ■ which,themcat sets,; so'as to permit; (juartorinfe; ' in this way the carcass is initially' sterilised before .it Has wholly parted with'.-its/'-natural. , heat, that'is to .when ala--temperature'is between 50 degrees and '60 '. degrees ;-F;' / After sterilisation under these'conditions'the air in the chilled chambers is treated so as ' to; circulate, 6 clean, .and dry it, and it'is claimed'that thei meat, can then .be 'preserved for, comparatively long periods at much higher temperatures'than are now possible, and the meat treated iii this, .way can be placed on the market not only.,sweet and free from decomposition; but; it) a condition comparable with fresh 'meat . ■'■■'i.Wc' 1 '. The sterilising' apparatus is fitted to the'chillj ing rooms to which-the-meat-is .-taken from the ' slaughter-house; to the chilled rooms•'in* which ' the meat is transported; and', to.: the chilled J rooms in which the moat is held on shore.pend- ° ing its distribution to the markets. The chilled' ° rooms are/fitted.with-a series of distributed inlets and bntlets, so arranged that air entering j- by the former and leaving by the latter is uni- • formly distributed over the surfaces of the quar--8 tors ,of meat stored in the chamber. Between the inlets and outlets there are connected in series—a calcium chloride chamber, a sulphurio acid chamber, and a suitable exhausting fan; the .outlets are also so connected to the inlets of the fan through a suitable heater and a for- . m&ldehyde sprayer. The calcium chamber contains a .series of renewable sticks of . chloride of calcium interposed in the stream of circulating ~ air, and the sulphuric acid chamber contains a I, series of rotating'-idiscs which dip. into the abid, s' and which are so arranged that' their wetted :, surfaces. are interposed in the circulating stream i- of air.; The formaldehyde sprayer is interposed. !• in the pipe betw'een the heater ' and' the fan,'so i., that the ■ formaldehyde becomes' atomised by, and i. 'mixes with,' the stream of circulating air; the ; heater, may he heated by steam or electricity, : and the sprayer may be also similarly heated, i. Suitable valves are provided so that'the air. may It be circulated as desired.. ; -The; sterilisation is effected by' bo arranging I. the valves. of the apparatus that .the atomised ; formaldehyde is '.'blown \vith ' the air into'the I. chamber so as to bring .tlio'finely divided formaldehyde into contact with the "surfaces of the ), meat, and-.to thoroughly sterilise these surfaces ; and any sheets with which 'they 'maybe covered. i. v During the voyage the apparatus is used at y intervals* of, say,' twelve hours to circulate, dry, ), and clean,the air. Whgu the ship reaches,her •i destination . the' temperature of the chamber,is •j gradually raised before the.meat is withdrawn. lj By sterilising before'the'meat is initially chilled, ! ■. the formation, of slime is' arrSsted, and the subsequent treatment maintains the fat. skill, and :i surface of the meat in a condition like that of" fresh-killed meat. - ,', .i