SALE OF MEAT

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 74, 24 September 1941, Page 5

SALE OF MEAT

GRADE INDICATION

PLAN BEING CONSIDERED

HELP FOR PURCHASER

The possibility of some step being taken to indicate the grade of meat to the purchasing public was mentioned by the Minister of Industries and Commerce (Mr. Sullivan) when speaking on the Standards Bill hi the House of Representatives yesterday. Mr. Sullivan was asked by Mr. W. S. Goosman (National, Waikato) what iiie effect of the Bill would be on the sale of meat, and replied that the effect would be exactly the same as with any other' commodity. Prices, said the Minister, had already been fixed for the sale of meat. Mr. Goosman: Prices are easier to fix than standards. The Minister said that a weakness in regard to the fixing of meat prices was that there was not a relation to grade. However, to ensure that the purchaser could recognise first-grade meat some method was likely to be devised to grade it. There were no such retail grades at the present time, but the Standards Institute was engaged upon the problem. When he said the Standards Institute, that always meant the experts who were available. They were the people who were called together to form a particular committee and subsequently the various elements concerned were consulted in detail regarding proposed specifications. That would be done with'meat, the same as with every other commodity. SCHEME CRITICISED. Mr. Goosman criticised the constitution of the committee which would deal with most standards. It included, he said, two representatives of the master butchers, two of the freezing workers, and nine other persons. The proportion of those really, interested was too small, and it would be better to constitute a committee with real experience of the duties it had td carry out. Mr. W. J. Poison (National, Stratford): Should we grow a standard sheep? Mr. Goosman inquired at what stage standardisation would be introduced in the meat industry. Would it be on the hoof or on the hook? The Minister: This only applies to retail meat sales. Mr. Goosman declared that the whole thing seemed an attack on the livestock markets of the Dominion. The Minister: Rubbish! Mr. Goosman: Anyhow, I shall go on with my argument.