DEHYDRATED MEAT

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20824, 1 July 1942, Page 6

DEHYDRATED MEAT

DOMINION EXPERIMENTS SUPPLIES FOR BRITAIN (P.R.) WELLINGTON, this' day. Replying to a question from Mr. C. W. Boswell (Lab., Bay of. Islands) concerning contracts for dehydrated meat, the Minister of Agriculture, the Hon. J. G. Barclay, gave details to the House of Representatives last night of the history of the experiment for 12 months. The New Zealand Government, said Mr. Barclay, had promoted experiments in the production of dried meat, but the United Kingdom Government did not desire commercial production until it had completed its own experiments to determine the most suitable method of manufacture. In the early stages, the Ministry of Food expressed a desire for 25,000 tons per annum, but it subsequently stated that dried meat should not be produced at the expense of existing canned beef contracts, nor should any meat be used which could be exported in frozen form. These conditions made the supply from New Zealand very limited, and the Ministry asked for 100 tons a month. New Zealand agreed and undertook to construct a factory in accordance with specifications forwarded from Britain. Exactly the same conditions of con-, tract were made in regard to Australia.