AUCKLAND'S MEAT SUPPLY

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13202, 13 June 1906, Page 2 (Supplement)

AUCKLAND'S MEAT SUPPLY

METHOD OF INSPECTION. mm Ik view* of the iecent disclosures ..concern-," ing the meat trade in America; a • repre^e,)u- ( tative of the II euald made some inquiries', last week regarding the conditions of the Auckland meat supply and canning -for- export-.;:- V "l'. '' At the Agricultural ,and Stock Department it was learned that at all the slaughterhouses in and around Auckland 'Government veterinarians . are. engaged 'to do nothing else but inspect, carcases of;, animals killed for human consumption. The only slaughterhouses where Government inspection is not carried out'are those under the City Council at Richmond, . , , . , .•*. Government inspection stops short,, however, at the carcase, and no attention is paid to the meat after it has, passed out of the inspector's hands. If it- .becomes unfit for canning alter inspection, that is a matter for the Public Health, and not the Stock Department.. As a matter of fact, however,: inspectors and .other officials of the Stock Department visit the canneries, but not officially, and so far as could be learned from those seen, nothing in the manner of preserving had been seen to which exception could be taken. . : V It- was learned from the Stock Department, and subsequently. corroborated by those engaged in the freezing industry, that the inspection at the private freezing works was moat rigorous, tliat the inspecors had an absolutely free and independent hand in carrying out thJr duties, wind that they -were not- paid "by the freezing firms,. but by the Government. • ' The inspection at the city abattoirs is carried out. 'by Mr. .John Robertson, ana is thorough and. conscientious.. All meat intended for Jewish sumption is not only carefully selected by the butchers, but every 'carcase is minutely-in-spected'.by the rabbi, and his mark "is a, guarantee of its quality. The process of dealing with preserving of carcases of perfectly healthy animals, is to strip them of as much fat as possible, to put a certain quantity am! certain parts into pickle for. corning, and to boil the rest. All meat intended for canning is first scalded, then cut up into suitable pieces, next weighed in the tins, pressed, the lid of the, tin put on by machinery, soldered down, boiled in vats, the vent-hole soldered'up' when a vacuum has been created,; and then, the tins are placed in a vat and subjected to a very high temperature. The tins are afterwards lacquered and labelled ready for export. The process, as seen by a representative of the Herald, is as clean as could possibly be, expected: There were no. nice white cloths on the table, it is true, but the meat under treatment appeared to be all wholesome and handled in a' cleanly manner.