MEAT SHIPPING

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20328, 17 August 1940, Page 12

MEAT SHIPPING

WARTIME PROBLEM SOLUTION SUGGESTED CUTTING OFF ALL WASTE EXPERIMENT PROPOSED By H. A. Seifert. (Copyright.) All our farmers’ efforts in the more production drive will go for nought unless that which we produce for export can be shipped. And that concern is felt in “high places” at the prospect of this. Fortunately, however, a very original plan, and one believed to be eminently practical, has been produced. Application of this plan may well benefit the meat trade of this Dominion to the extent of many millions of pounds and, even more important, aid greatly our kinsfolk at Home. Carriage of our meat overseas provides a shipping problem of most serious consequence, for these reasons: Meat comprises almost half the total weight of our exports; it requires all refrigerated space; it is a bulky cargo; Britain has large alternative supplies in Argentina at approximately half the voyage distant to New Zealand, and a great proportion of our meat is lamb, the least essential meat in wartime. Let there be no illusions, therefore, that all must be well as long as we produce. Clearly, therefore, meat shipping today is an outstanding problem. This both from New Zealand’s and Britain’s viewpoint. Under the present restricted rationing, Britain requires 37,000 tons of meat weekly, 1,924,000 tons annually. Of this she must import approximately 750,000 tons; our killings last season equalled 50 per cent of that quantity, produced at 12,000 miles from point of need. “Telescoping” Condemned To aid the shipping position, measures have already been taken since the beginning of last season. Beef chilling was abandoned and freezing reverted to, saving 20 per cent of space on this comparatively small item. Of greater consequence, all lamb and mutton was “telescoped” —i.e., the carcase cut through behind the loin (and the two legs v of mutton (undivided) were thrust within the forequarter and loin. When so packed there is a solid carcase, about twothirds normal length. A considerable saving in space results. The practice, however, is most strongly condemned on these several grounds: Space capacity is still occupied by “waste;” the meat on arrival is in a most unsatisfactory condition for distribution; our post-war standing will be gravely influenced by the practice; and, finally, a much better method is available. Wanganui Proposal All this and much more here to be told was learned in a special interview with Mr. Sam S. Timbs, Wanganui, understood to be the only member of the greatest of traders' organisations resident in the Dominion. As to competence to produce and plan, let these facts speak: Mr. Timbs has been engaged in the meat business all his life; his experience and observations cover a dozen countries; h: has been a freezing-works buyer and manager; was initial supervising grader to the New Zealand Meat Board; has consigned meat Home and personally sold it there; knows Smithi field and its trading customs intimately and was Home just before the war on yet another of many trips, and he has been in retail business both at Home and in New Zealand. Added to his knowledge and experience is an original and practical grasp of essentials. A Comprehensive Plan To replace the present methods of preparing. our meats for export, Mr. Timbs offers this comprehensive plan, to apply for the duration of the war: Mutton.—Trim to remove breasts scrags, all surplus fat inside and out, and after freezing cut off the knuckles on all four legs; bag and ship as per usual custom. Lamb.—Treat precisely as mutton. Beef.—Divide all carcases into “eights” (instead of quarters), remove all bone and surplus fat (inside and out), tie into snuared parcels of approximately 1401 b., freeze, bag in hessian wrappers and brand into four classifications, viz., butts, loins, crops, and briskets. Pigs.—To 801 b. weight, divide, remove heads, fore shank flush with brisket bone, joint hind shank at cramp bone and turn in flush. Over 801 b. pigs, divide and remove all bone except hind hock from cramp bone, double in each side (skin out) and brand as fat, lean, or prime. Veal.—Calves 1401 b. and up, divide to quarters and remove all bone, and surplus inside loin fat. Calves undei 1401 b. likewise to be boned. All this boneless veal to be tied into 1401 b. squared parcels, bagged and branded as light or heavy. Conservatively estimated, the processing advocated would save space to the extent of 10 per cent in the case of lambs and 20 per cent in mutton (this over present method of telescoping), 25 per cent in porker and 40 per cent in baconer carcases, and 50 per cent in case of beef and veal. The people of Britain would benefit to an even greater extent, for they would receive real meat, not meat “diluted" with fat and bone. No waste would be here involved, for all trimmings would be efficiently processed in our own works, and those for export could be shipped Home as ordinary cargo, without occupying refrigerated space. Two Major Questions An immediate question that will arise in the mind of any farmer or meat-man is as to the appearance of the meat so “chopped about.” Or that a definite reassurance can be given; mutton and lamb will land Home in a far superior condition to that telescoped. As to the other meals, those will arrive in a satisfactory condition also, in a style to which the trade is there quite accustomed. By adoption of the processing proposed, New Zealand will not be damning its meat-export future. A seeond very vital question is that of price. Obviously a trimmed carcase will weigh less than one untrimmed, and were all meat dealt with as proposed, the resultant loss of tonnage might represent some 3,000,000 or so pounds, this, unless the priqe he