CHILLED BEEF

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22247, 23 October 1935, Page 9

CHILLED BEEF

THE VALUE OF EESEARCH CARRIAGE OF BACON DEPARTMENTS INVESTIGATION Referring to research work in chilled beef, the annual report of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research states that an active part has been taken in connection with shipments from New Zealand, Investigations at the Cambridge Low Temperature Research Station and in New Zealand had revealed that close attention had to be devoted to the hygienic conditions of slaughter and handling and storage at the works in New Zealand if continuity of qualityand condition were to be maintained and good prices secured at Smithfield. Flavours in meat caused by oxidation changes proceeding in fats were receiving attention. Thjs work had a particular bearing upon New Zealand meat on account of the long period it remained in transport, giving an opportunity for the development of flavours. The report states:—"ln general, the essential need before the Dominion is the maintenance of its reputation for producing high quality meat, and every means of promoting quality must be exploited. The growth of the chilled beef industry, which has developed largely from the research work of the Cambridge station, makes it imperative that attention be devoted to the breeding of suitable types of beef animals in New Zealand, to highly efficient scientific control of factory, and to transport facilities." Research work in pork and bacon possessed a wide significance to the pig industry, the report states. A few years ago when the question of export of bacon from New Zealand was receiving consideration, this was considered to be out of the question because of deterioration of the fat during transport. Npw the maintenance of bacon in an atmosphere of pure carbon-dioxide gas indicated that this trouble could be overcome, although it was not yet fully practicable. The fact that high-quality bacon could be manufactured from' New Zealand frozen pork had been demonstrated beyond question, and this had enabled New Zealand to find a place in the bacon market of Great Britain, , STOCK FOR EXPORT SPECIAL LINE OF HEREFORDS [from our own correspondent] HAMILTON, Tuesday A line of 100 dehorned Hereford bullocks has been forwarded to Westfield to bo killed for the chilled beef expor.t trade. The Hcrefords were bred on the Mokomoko station, Tokomaru Bay, and were brought to the Waikato in March last. They, have since been fattened by Messrs. Blackett Brothers, of Te Kowhai, and at four years were brought to a stage considered to be ideal for chilling. The bullocks were sent to Westfield on Sunday, and will be killed this week in time to be despatched by an early vessel for England. AUSTRALIAN MEAT CONTROL BOARD SCHEME REGULATING THE TRADE The establishment of an Australian Meat Export Control Board, to cooperate with the proposed Empire Meat Council and the boards of other Dominions, was approved at a recent conference of representatives of the meat industry and of State and Federal Governments, held in Canberra. The powers of the board will be: — To regulate shipments; to recommend rates of levies to be imposed from time to time on the export of moat; to advise regarding tho allocation between the States, and between individual exporters in each State, of the quantities of tho various classes of meat in any export programme; to advertise Australian meat overseas and to foster scientific research. Opening the conference, the-Federal Minister of Commerce, Dr. Earle Page, said there had arisen from the negotiations conducted by the Ministerial delegation to Great Britain a proposal that there should be an Empire meat council, representing the United Kingdom and other British countries interested in supplying meat to the British market. Its duties would be to consider tho well-being of the meat trade of the Empire, and to review the operation of any agreement which might be made. There would also bo a standing meat conference of all countries supplving meat to the United Kingdom "to obtain appropriate regulation of the flow of meat to the market. The Empire organisation was to be independent of the general conference and neither was to have any statutory power. It was proposed also that there should be in each Dominion a meat board affiliated with the Empire Meat Council.

BUILDING RESEARCH VALUE TO NEW ZEALAND MORTAR FROM VOLCANIC ASH To tlio scientist, who in these days has a hand in everything, bricks and mortar present many nice problems which demand and are getting investigation, states the Wellington Post. When in England recently the Prime Minister, Air. Forbes, visited the British Building Pose arch Station, and what ho learned tlicro is incorporated in his foreword to the annual report of the Department of Scientific and industrial Research, of which department ho is the Minister in charge. "From tho point of view of its value as a social service the British Research Department has established a Building Research Station at Watford, and I found a visit to this station of great interest," ho says. "At first sight one might be inclined to think that research in such directions can hardly be practicable, but the esteem in which the station is held by tho building industry and architects and their active co-operation in the work show that it fills a very real need. , * "Tho station has made investigations, for instance, into the quality of bricks with a view to advising the manufacturer and building contractor and to setting up standards of quality which will safeguard both consumer, architect, and reputable brickmakers. . . "One interesting feature of the work of value to New Zealand was the uso of certain types of volcanic ash for concrete and mortar. Such material imparts valuable properties to cements, endowing them with resistance to chemical attack and enabling a smaller proportion of cement to be used. "Samples of New Zealand ashes had previously been tested bythe Dominion Laboratory and also sent to the Building Research Station, and it is pleasing to note that some of them have the desired properties which, interestingly enough, are tho basis of the old Roman cements, which are alleged to be stronger than the stones which they, bind together./'-