Manawatu Evening Standard. SATURDAY, SEPT. 16, 1933. CHILLED BEEF.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 248, 16 September 1933, Page 6

Manawatu Evening Standard. SATURDAY, SEPT. 16, 1933. CHILLED BEEF.

A report received by tlie Meat Producers’ Board from its London manager speaks in biglx praise of the second shipment of JNew Zealand chilled beef which reached England in July. It confirms the very favourable comment made at the time by experts in London upon the quality of the beef, one of whom claimed that it was practically the same as the standard reached in Argentine shipments. This beef, it will be recalled, was shipped under most favourable conditions; the cattle were specially selected; the greatest care was exercised in the operations between the freezing works and the ship’s hold, and the consignment was carried in chambers in which carbon dioxide gas had been liberated. Under these conditions the meat was landed in England without any trace of mould or disfigurement which had been a feature of previous experimental shipments from both Australia and Hew Zealand. Particular interest was taken in the • carbon dioxide process, a discovery by the Food Investigation Board in its work on the storage of chilled beef and pork. As the Financial Times of London points out, in referring to the Hew Zealand chilled beef, the outcome of the discoveries in this field has a direct influence on the future of Empire development and on Britain’s trade relations with other meat producing* countries such as the Argentine, Brazil and Uruguay. Beef chilled under the ordinary air process does not escape deterioration after a month. In consequence, South American States can send their consignments to England in this manner, but this is not practicable for either Australia oi’ Hew Zealand. The carbon dioxide experiment has therefore opened up the vista of a promising trade between both Dominions and the Mother Country, provided that, without very great overhead expense, the class of beef desired in England can be produced and the killing and freezing carried out to ensure prime quality when the cargo reaches its destination, and the “maintenance of the required atmosphere in a ship’s refrigerated space proved practicable on a commercial basis.” In regard to the latter condition the Financial Times does not consider there are “insurmountable obstacles” to its achievement, and when it comes many important considerations, it adds, will arise. In 1932, this journal points out, the Argentine _ exported 7,800,000 cwt. of chilled beef to England, and Brazil and Uruguay rather less than 1,000,OOOcwt. between them. In value the total shipments amounted to £18,200,000. Exports of frozen beef in that year from Australia amounted to 957,000 cwt., from New Zealand 578,000 cwt., and from the Argentine 655,000 cwt. The total from all countries was 2,500,000 cwt., valued at £4,600,000. In the opinioif of this* journal, if it should be found possible to bring chilled beef to England from the Antipodes in comparable condition to that from the Argentine, from every point of view it would be to Britain’s advantage to encourage its “A strong practical incentive it finds in the high values of purchases of British manufactures per head of population, Australia’s average for the years 1928 to 1930 being £7 7s and New Zealand’s nearly double that amount. The important question of quality is stressed—-as it has been in this country—if it is ultimately proved a commercial proposition to export chilled beef to England. That is a matter to be taken up vigorously when the time arrives. The New Zealand shipment, which is described to the Meat Board as the best conditioned chilled beef that lias ever arrived from either Australia or New Zealand, was widely distributed and must have impressed British trade. It has been followed by consignments from New South Wales and Victoria, and for the former prices were re-

ceived closely approximating those for Argentine chilled beef. The result, it is said, ensures future regular consignments from this State. It is not clear whether the meat was shipped under the ordinary air chilled or the latest process, but it is eindent that remarkable progress is being made in this matter, and the future is not without some ray of hope that it will be possible to build up a profitable trade with the Motherland in chilled beef.