FROZEN BACON

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXI, Issue 4945, 21 January 1937, Page 5

FROZEN BACON

DEMAND IN ENGLAND. USE FOR CURING. London, December 31. With the cancellation of the 1937 pig contracts between the Bacon and Pigs Marketing Boards, a keen demand for frozen baconers is inevitable throughout 1937. The poor contract prices during 1935 and 1936 have driven hundreds of small producers out of the industry, and over fifty bacon factories have reported that, unless supplies of carcasses from other sources are forthcoming, they cannot remain in production. The extent to which the curers have come to rely upon good quality frozen carcasses will be illustrated by the reply of the Minister of Agriculture to a question asked in the House of Commons regarding what was described as "the undesirable development in this country of bacon made from imported frozen pig carcasses." Mr. Morrison revealed that 264,000 cwt. of bacon were produced from imported frozen pork in 1935 by curers in Great Britain, registered under the Bacon Marketing Scheme. It is now known that the 1936 figures are well in excess of the 1935 total. The chief sources of supply for these carcasses are Australia and New Zealand. In connection with the home Bacon Marketing Scheme, it is regarded as highly probable that the Pigs Marketing Board, will set up a special committee invested with the sole powers of buying pigs on the open market for the factories. Even so, there will remain a heavy deficit, and prices for imported carcasses should register a sharp advance.