FREEZING INDUSTRY

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 12, 9 October 1928, Page 14

FREEZING INDUSTRY

COMPANY ENGINEERS IN CONFERENCE

An important conference of refrigerating engineers, convened by the New Zealand Meat Producers' Board, was held in the Dominion Farmers’ Institute on Thursday last, and was attended by representatives from practically every freezing company in the Dominion. The chairman of the meeting (Mr. A. Hamilton, M.P.), in welcoming the representatives, emphasised the importance of the co-operation of freezing companies in such important matters and said the large attendance of representatives showed the united desire of freezing companies to uphold the good name of the Dominion in its frozen meat trade by doing everything possible to ensure that the meat was placed on the British market to the best possible advantage. Mr, Hamilton, referring to the season just closed, intimated that the board had received various reports from London advising that there had been a marked improvement iu respect to the bloom and colour of the lambs shipped from this Dominion.

Mr. J. Fraser, general manager of the board, placed before the conference the results of some experiments recently carried out by the Meat Board in connection with the freezing, storing and carriage of meat, and it was arranged that further tests should be carried out by the Meat Board, both in the Dominion and at. the Cambridge Low Temperature Station, England. In referring to the handling of frozen meat in transit, Mr. Fraser mentioned that as we were now shipping double the quantity of lambs compared with pre-war days, in the handling of such a. perishable article the greatest of care had to be exercised in the various links in the chain of transit from the freezing works until the meat was finally deposited on Smithfield.

Mr. Lynde, chief mechanical engineer of the railways, and his chemist (Mr. Gardner), gave most interesting information in respect to experiments which they had recently carried out in regard to the insulation of railway wagons, which proved very interesting to the engineers present. The general discussion on various matters pertaining to the freezing, storing and handling of meat which, followed is expected to prove of great value to the frozen meat trade. The science of chemistry was well represented and figured in the discussions on the scientific aspects of the various problems placed before the meeting. importance of these conferences was referred to by various speakers, and a hearty vote of thanks was extended to the board for calling the representatives together, and it was unanimously agreed to ask the Meat Board to hold another conference in September of next year.