N.Z. MEAT

Grey River Argus, 27 July 1940, Page 5

N.Z. MEAT

NEED FOR HIGH QUALITY CHRISTCHURCH, J’uly 26. The necessity for retaining at all costs the high quality of New Zealand meat for export is emphasised by the New Zealand Meat Producers’ Board in its annual report. The board points out that not only must New Zealand meat retain its present goodwill even during the war, but it must take advantage of the Britisn meat control scheme, which is placing New Zealand meat in the hands of a large section of the British public which previously bought only home-killed meat.

To help maintain this high quality, the board proposes to continue its competitions for export lamb and for chilled beef. Though no chilled beef has been exported since the beginning of the war, the purchase agreement with the British Government enables chilled quality and price to be retained.

“The board would emphasise that the reputation of New Zealand meat on the British market and the premium it enjoys have been created and maintained on quality,” the report states. “This must be retained at all costs, so that when the crisis is over, we will be in a position to resume at once the wide distribution of our meat throughout the United Kingdom, again taking advantage of the goodwill that has been built up over a period of many years, based essentially on quality and enhanced by the board’s extensive publicity campaigns in the United Kingdom.”

Under the British scheme of meat control, • retailers were unable to select their meat purchases, and were obliged to take meat of whatever grade and origin was available. There was therefore no point in the board continuing its advertising campaign among British retailers and consumers, and it was suspended. It was, however, decided to continue small shipments to Canada, where trial shipments before the war had met with a most encouraging response. The shipments are to be continued to keep contact with that market.

“These circumstances should not, however, prompt the New Zealand farmer in any degree to slacken his efforts in producing meat of the highest the report states. “All imported mutton, lamb and poric is still branded with the country of origin, and the public will not be slow to appreciate the superior eating qualities of New Zealand meat. Under the Government meat plan, imported meat is kept in reserve partly to fill the deficiency of home-grown meat, and as a consequence New Zealand meat is now reaching a class of consumer which normally purchased home-grown meat exclusively. It is, lherefore,, of vital importance to the New Zealand farmer that quality should be maintained at all costs, and that every effort should be made to hold fast to the excellent reputation for quality which New Zealand has enjoyed for so many years.”